Belly of the Beast
by BMIK
Summary: It is about: An abandoned, secret lab, some missing reconstruction workers and Reno trying to find out what is going on, but being captured by the beast. Dark fic
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to a new fic. There´s not much to say about this yet, you will have to read and see if you like it.**

**I must warn you however: this is not supposed to be read by children, and I suspect that it will be disturbing for the one or other reader. Please do not complain, just stop reading if you do not like it, you have been warned ;)**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy Advent Children and I do not make any money from this.**  
**

**Enjoy^^**

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Belly of the beast

*chapter 1*

"Okay, I´m entering the second underground level now, yo. Fuck, it´s dark here… Ew, and there´s icky stuff coming from the ceiling! And it´s cramped too!! Ouch!!!"

Mildly glowing eyes coldly watched from above as a lean, slouchy creature infiltrated its lair, clumsily staggering through the moist darkness. Huge shadows were standing in his way and he bumped against them, making strange hissing and growling noises, but bravely fought his way further down the labyrinth of broken, forgotten corridors.

Above the redhead, a silent, thin shadow elegantly crept behind him over the rusty, slippery pipes hanging from the ceiling, on all fours, the creature´s movements predatory and sleek.

Its prey was so noisy…

Well, they all were, but this one was different in a way.

It didn´t seem afraid at all; the strong, intoxicating odour of fear was absent this time. Instead there was something else.

"If I get that fucker, he´s _shish kebab_, yo!"

Why was this animal making these growling noises into that little box again? The figure on the pipes tilted its head, expressionlessly observing the human sneaking along the almost pitch black corridor, deeper down into the belly of the old, abandoned military science facility.

The walls had blackened over time; thick, rusty streaks were running over formally important numbers and instructions that had coordinated research when this place had been still used. It was hard to imagine that formerly this facility had been immaculate, white and sterile, with busy scientists buzzing through the corridors not even two decades ago.

Now what remained was a nightmarish perversion of this former glory and pride of the Shinra cooperation. Mold had claimed and devoured sterility; neon lights had burst, sticking from the ceiling like broken teeth and leaving the hollow, dead corridors to whatever crawled in the darkness.

Rusty trays, medical supplies and unused machines were all around, abandoned by the scientists who had fled the building in a hurry…

The creature on the ground had a quick look at some of the empty rooms that weren´t locked. He seemed on edge, but still highly attentive and maybe even… dangerous.

Actually the predator had decided to just follow and watch this intruder; make sure he wouldn´t come anywhere near its lair, but now it was not sure anymore that its 'guest' meant no harm at all. Which was quite annoying, because it had just eaten and felt kind of lazy.

The redhead still hadn´t spotted his follower one level above, but then again he was quite busy behaving aggressively, roughly shoving a huge, rusty metal thingy out of his way.

The predator disliked loud noises.

And the little box his visitor held was making creaked noises too. _"Stop complaining and get this over with," _was the irritated reply, that the crouched carnivore could not understand.

However it decided that it had waited long enough now; it was time to act. And while Reno was still cursing the bedstead deviously hiding in the darkness just so he could hit it with his shin, a large shadow came at him from above, knocking him out cold.

~*~

Reno groaned, as he slowly regained conciousness. His head was hurting and throbbing like hell, waves of white pain washing from a spot at his forehead down to the tip of his toes. And the fact that he was roughly dragged over the moist, uneven ground wasn´t helping matters either…

That thought made him come back to his senses fully though, his heart skipping a beat and his body stiffening only for a split second.

Fuck. He´d found the bastard. Or rather: the fucker had found _Reno_!

'Okay, stay calm. Don´t let it know you´re awake…'

Reno forced his jumping heartbeat down and relaxed his limbs, pretending that he was still out cold. Fuck. He should have been more careful; whatever it was that had attacked him had whipped out an entire reconstruction team! Admittedly it had only been five, untrained men, sent to investigate the building since Shinra had plans of rebuilding the facility that had been lying dormant for 15 years after _that_ incident. However no one could have anticipated that such difficulties would arise…

The team had been meant to just have a look around and give a report on what had to be done to reconstruct the old labs, and give an estimation on how much it would cost the company. Nothing dangerous at all… However, 12 hours after sending them in, there had been no sign of life from them anymore whatsoever. The last communication they had gotten was some panicked, rushed half report on _something _being down here, and apparently it 'had gotten Jack and the others' and then there was a gurgled scream and static, before the connection had been interrupted. That had been a week ago, and now Reno and his team had been sent in to investigate the curious circumstances. According to his boss, they suspected that there was some wild animal housed in the labs now; maybe even one of the experiments that had survived the blast years ago. And that was what he´d been looking for: a hungry monster that occupied the darkness; a violent beast that had attacked the poor, unsuspecting men.

Apart from a bloody handprint on the inside of one of the doors, that must have been rather fresh, Reno hadn´t found anything however. Well, that wasn´t right either; Reno _had_ found something, apparently. Maybe he should have put more effort into resisting the urge to satisfy is pathological curiosity and wait for the others (especially for the big guy with the even bigger gun), instead of charging into the belly of the beast all by himself….

But these thoughts weren´t helping him right now; he had to think of a way to overthrow his attacker. Flexing his fingers testingly, the redhead came to know that his EMR was gone, as was his walkie talkie. Shit. So there was no calling for back up… At least he was in a position where his hands were free; the beast was dragging him down the floor by his feet. Now, if he could get up…

Daring to crack an eye open a bit, Reno couldn´t see anything at first. He just heard the disconcerting noise of his body slithering over the wet ground, smelled the awful stench of unidentified things rotting in the molding corridors and felt his body bump against solidity.

It was so dark…

After a few seconds of holding his breath however, a blurry image appeared before his eyes. Right in front of him was something moving, a hunched, black creature whose silhouette was only slightly visible against the dark surroundings. It moved with strangely ragged, clipped and somewhat slurred motions, but it didn´t make any noise at all.

Creepy.

The image of terror was amplified by the fact that Reno couldn´t see the animal´s features; it could have been anything for all he knew. Well, maybe not an elephant, or a giraffe; it was rather small, and more monkey shaped. Maybe.

Suppressing a pained hiss when his head bumped over something on the ground, Reno quickly had to close his eye, as the beast stopped, its shadow going rigid. Damn, had it noticed that Reno was awake?

The redhead kept his body relaxed and his breathing even.

His feet were released and fell to the ground, rather painfully, but Reno didn´t even bat an eyelash. His senses were on alert, and despite not being able to see anything he could feel the monkey thing crawling over him. Warm breathing hit his skin, making goosebumps rise all over the redhead´s body, as the creature gave a silent snort. Inwardly Reno prepared to attack. Maybe, if he surprised it, it would flee and not eat him…? It was the only option he really had, since he didn´t know how long he had been out. If he was unlucky, it had been quite some time, and his team would never find him in this maze. Besides, the beast wasn´t that big, surprisingly, maybe he could even overwhelm it…

As the readhead was just about to jump up and scream his throat raw to scare the beast away, a very pointy finger poked him in the eye and this time Reno didn´t manage to suppress the surprised yelp.

"What the fuck?!" he blurted out, bolting into an upright, sitting position, and held his eye, with the other indignantly glaring at his captor.

The beast jumped backwards, crouching down before its victim and watching it with narrowed eyes.

Blinking, the redhead finally got a good look at his attacker, and his jaw slacked. "What…"

It was only a boy.

Or at least it appeared to be…

The only thing Reno could clearly see were two brilliant, eerily glowing green eyes that appeared almost black, because the pupils had widened so much. Still, judging from his physique, Reno didn´t reckon him to be much older than maybe 16 or 17. Where the hell did he come from?!

Quite confused, Reno let his hand sink down, instead slowly reaching out to the obviously wary little thing. "Hey, what are you doing down he-"

Sharp, pearly teeth were suddenly threateningly bared at him, and in a flash, the boy grabbed for something lying beside him, hitting Reno on the head with it.

"Ouch!!! What the hell?!" The redhead winced, holding the second bruise that was already forming on his forehead, scowling at the brat. "What was that for?!"

The predator blankly observed its victim, the EMR still in hand. What a thick skull. Tilting its head, the boy put some more strength into his arm and hit the strange, utterly surprised animal again, watching in satisfaction as its crystal blue eyes finally rolled back this time and he limply fell back to the ground.

Gripping meaty arms again, the beast continued to drag its food deeper and deeper into its lair, this time without any further incidents.

tbc

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**And many many thanks to my awesome beta Chephren^^**

**Review please?**


	2. 2: Welcome to the Jungle

**Hey there, welcome to chapter two^^ I am happy so many people seem to be interested in this fic, despite its rather dark themes XD I hope you will still enjoy it after this chapter *bites nails* Anyways, I thank my awesome beta chephren very much for her help and wish you fun reading!**

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Chapter 2: Welcome to the jungle

The second time Reno awoke, it was with a choked cough, caused by the stench infiltrating his nose and serving as smelling salt.

His head felt like it had been cracked open, and his throat was raw like sandpaper. Giving a restrained cough again, Reno moved his shoulders, because his arms felt numb. He quickly learned that this time, they were bound over his head by chains, to be recognized by the sounds they made as metal clashed against metal. And they were pretty tightly chained too, his poor arms.

He was laying in another room, alone, as far as he could tell. It was still dark, but it seemed that with every passing hour he spent here, his eyesight got better. Strange…

Since the rustling of the chains hadn´t alerted the boy –who he suspected was still around-, Reno took his time to look at his prison a bit more closely, since he didn´t have much to do anyways.

Once he got free, he´d so spank the brat till its bottom was one raw, bloody mess… Kids these days, they had no respect for their elders anymore! The runt had probably come down here, maybe with his gang, even though this place was strictly off limits. Most likely he had panicked when he had discovered Reno… The redhead had no time for this shit! And besides, it was dangerous here, that animal was still running wild!

Inwardly groaning, his eyes scanned the tiled walls, the majority of them already broken and lying on the floor in piles. There were deep cracks in the walls underneath, and they were just as stained and dirty as the rest of this hellhole.

Several rusty chains were hanging from sharp hooks, and Reno suspected that he was bound to one as well. A very unsettling feeling crept into his guts, as he recognized it to be one of the experimenting rooms, but the ones he had seen on photos had been clean, flooded with light there hadn´t been any hooks… or blood stains.

The smears on the wall weren´t all from just rust and mud; there clearly was old, crusted blood as well.

The floor was littered with trash; mostly broken tiles, dirt and rusty iron bars. In one corner Reno could spot a small bed, that had been white once, but the color was tarnished in many places and the springs were missing, only leaving the skeleton to remain. However, there were brittled leather restraints on either side, for ankles, wrists and the head…

A broken surgical light was hanging askew from the ceiling, all light bulbs gone, leaving only dark, empty sockets that stared at the ground like blind eyes of a dead insect.

The constant, chilling sound of droplets falling into small, dirty puddles on the uneven ground was unnerving him.

Shifting a bit, Reno narrowed his eyes to see what was in the corner farthest away from him. It was almost perfectly hidden in the shadows, or so Reno thought, until he came to notice that it seemed to be a fridge like box. It probably had been used to store medication or whatever, though it was distinctively smaller than an average refrigerator. The door was half open. Something was inside… After a few seconds of concentrated staring, the redhead could finally make out some old papers and blankets carefully stuffed inside.

Reno felt even more uncomfortable now, turning his head towards the black hole in the wall that lead to probably more creepy rooms, but he couldn´t see anything.

"Yo!"

Again, he tore at the chains, but intentionally so this time, wanting to get the brat´s attention. If the runt was still here, that was. If not, Reno was fucked…

"C´mon!!! Let me go, I promise there won´t be any consequences!!!" _'Yeah, right, just believe that you little shit…'_

For quite some time there was no reaction at all and the Turk gave up, letting his head hang down. This was brilliant; he was god-knows-where in this maze, with no chance of connecting with his superiours and to make it even worse, there was some animal running around. And he was hanging here, like on a silver platter…

The strong, disconcerting feeling of being observed made him look up after a few minutes however, and to his shock, the boy was in the room. He wasn´t just standing by the door however; no, somehow he had managed to get past Reno without the redhead noticing him. At least now the turk got a better look on him.

The light was still bad, but Reno had a chance to see the dirtiest person he had ever seen. Long, filthy hair was framing an even dirtier, smeared face. The boy was skinny, and probably naked, but one couldn´t really tell, because his skin (or clothes) were so dark and splattered with… blood? Dear Gaia, this wasn´t one of the survivors, was he?! But Reno hadn´t read anything about a boy being part of the team...

He was cowering on the skeletal bed, easily balancing on the thin iron bar like it was nothing, his arm resting casually on the headboard. He was expressionlessly observing the chained redhead.

"Fuck, you scared me, yo!" Reno gave a nervous, hollow laugh, shaking his head. Man, that kid was _so_ creepy…

Licking his lips, the man calmed down, and finally asked nonchalantly,

"What´s your name? I´m Reno."

He had to win the boy´s trust, so he would release him and they could get the hell out of here!

His company didn´t seem very talkative however, just blinking and stubbornly keeping his staring up.

Reno drew in a deep breath.

"Okay, listen, I don´t know what you´re doing here, or how you got in, and, frankly, I don´t give a flying fuck, yo. Just let me go, and we´ll forget about it, okay? No punishment, I promise."

He sported a trustworthy smile- or at least he hoped it was. He was pretty pissed right now, the throbbing vein in his forehead might have told the boy so.

It must have, because the runt just shifted his gaze in a languid fashion, leaning forward in an _impossible_ angle, and picked something up from the floor Reno noticed to be his EMR.

"Wait, don´t, that´s dangerous!"

The breathed warning was ignored however, as the boy turned the rod exploringly in his hand, agile fingers accidently clicking the safety.

A white light flashed in the darkness, blinding the both of them and before Reno could even think "Told you so, yo," his captor had leapt from the bedstead, in the blink of an eye crawling into the fridge and smashing the door closed behind him.

The EMR lay on the ground, humming and sparkling, sending flashes of light through the chamber.

"… Fuck." The sound of the door bouncing against metal was still ringing in his ears, as Reno stared at the box. This thing was _inhumanly_ fast! He hadn´t even seen him move!

A cold shiver ran down the redhead´s spine as he looked from his activated EMR back to the little, barricaded box, that seemed way too small to house a half grown youth. But still, he could see one single, glowing eye peeking out of it, cagily staring at his weapon.

What was going on here?! Coming to think about it now, the boy seemed strange indeed. Reno had been too agitated and eager to get out to notice before, but there were some incongruities here, definitely.

First off, the kid had been able to sneak up on him, a trained hitman, which was an impossibility in itself. The circumstances had been special, but even so, he shouldn´t have been able to knock Reno out. Let alone drag him here and bind him like that! Reno was at least 70 kilos, and he´d been dead weight on top! And how had the boy gotten in here anyways?! Also, there was this creepy silence thingy of his…

"…You livin´ down here?" Reno cleared his throat, to get rid of the lump that was making him sound muffled.

He had to lift his chin a bit to avoid the flashing light burning his eyes, but there was no reply whatsoever.

"… Great. Okay, either you keep hiding in there, probably breaking your back, or you come out and I tell you how to turn it off." A slightly morose edge had crept into the Turk´s voice. His arms were killing him, and he needed to report to Tseng!

Still there was no answer from the box, just that strange eye that kept staring at the EMR. And then Reno learned another worrisome fact: whenever the light sparked the boy´s pupil constricted into a thin, elongated slit.

~*~

The carnivore was comfortably hunched in **its** nest, where it was safe and warm. The strange device had hurt **its** eyes, and it had remained doing so, till the creature had shut it out entirely. There was white flashing through the thin slit where the door didn´t quite close, but it wasn´t nearly as agonizing as it had been before.

Leaning **its** forehead against **its** knees – not that **it** knew that there were any terms for these parts of **its** body- the creature quietly stared at the flashes. They seemed to get weaker; but quite some time had passed, and the strange rod probably ran out of energy. Maybe it needed food, but it wouldn´t get any here, not with being so…flashy…

The prey had become silent as well. His strange and irritating noises had died down, but he was still alive. The creature could hear him breathe. In and out, in and out, in and out…

**It** never had such a huge thing here breathing, beside **itself** of course. There was only small, soft things here, and even smaller, hard ones. They were tasty, the soft ones. The hard ones barely satisfied the beast, unless there were many of them. And here, there were many of them, always…

Sometimes, when **it **caught one of the soft, squeaking ones – **it** had to be careful and quick or **it** would get hurt – **it** let them be after **it** had stopped making them breathe. They would go cold, and **it** would go elsewhere and wait. **It** would sleep, or doze or watch the hard, not so delicious things quickly crawling through **its** lair. Sometimes **it** hung from the _sun_ – **it** could remember that it was the _sun_, even though **it** didn´t know why; **its** memory was only connected to a strange noise and it was **its** only memory– that **its** long fur would sweep the ground. When **it** got dizzy **it** fell back to the ground on all four and crawled over to the non-breathing, soft thing. There were lots of smaller things crawling in and on it –**it** never could hear them breathing though- and **it** would devour them alltogether. It was the most delicious ever! Usually, however, the creature didn´t have the patience to wait; **it** was always so hungry…

That was, before **it** had found the big ones, not so long ago. Time held no meaning here, except for the degree of which non-breathing things rot. When they were past a degree that they were still delicious, it was too late… This hadn´t happened yet with the big ones however. When they had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, **it** had watched them from the shadows. Never before had the creature seen such things, they were so loud and strange. But quickly **it** had come to learn that **it** didn´t like them; they had attempted to destroy **its** lair.

So **it** had made them stop breathing one after another and dragged them back to **its** pantry.

They wouldn´t stop breathing easily, at the beginning at least. Usually, with the small, soft ones, the creature just had to put them in **its** mouth and they´d go open, their juices dripping down the beast´s chin and on the floor, where **it** licked them off later. **It** didn´t know where to bite the big ones, though. They had little things on their bodies too, looking very much like **its** own. They were soft on the outside too, but on the inside they were very hard, even harder than the small, hard ones creeping through** its** lair. And they´d make the loud noises when **it** bit them there and they hadn´t stopped breathing from **it** biting them there either.

They were such strange food…

The first one had been a bit messy; the beast had torn at him, trying to open him, but **its** prey had moved a lot and was _very_ loud. At that point of time, the beast hadn´t dragged the big one in **its** lair either, because **it** was curious and hungry and didn´t want them in there before **it** had figured out how to deal with **its** prey.

One of the others had heard the beast and found them; he probably was hungry too. But **it** never shared. And so **it** had found out a better way to make them stop breathing: the still breathing big one had come at the creature with a long, hard thing, one of those that were lying around everywhere, and the creature had mimicked the man´s actions. Since **it** was faster than the clumsy, noisy biggy **it** had landed a hit on the intruder´s head and there it was, the juice. However, the man wouldn´t stop breathing just yet, it took another few hits to make him fall down. Once that was done, the creature went for the others, and eventually **it** had them all piled in **its** pantry.

It had been a feast!

Never before had **it** had so much food! It was a bit chewy, but if **it** tore enough the flesh and organs would come off eventually. At one point **it** couldn´t take anymore and just had rolled to the side, sleeping. When **it** woke up **it** had started eating again, watching from the corner of **its** eye how the small, soft things and the smaller, hard ones had gathered to share **its** meal.

Also, there had been unedible parts, but they were easily removed and piled up in one corner.

There was still a lot there now, though it was very slowly starting to get mushy, much to the beast´s dismay. **It** couldn´t eat so fast, even though **it** _had_ tried over the last few periods of waking.

And today had come another one…

This one **it** hadn´t made stop breathing; **it** couldn´t eat him now anyway. **It** would save him for _later_ (**it** wasn´t aware that for the first time, **it** grasped an actual concept of time, becoming aware of a possible _future_), when the others weren´t edible anymore.

tbc.

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**AN: Okies, I think some of it might not make sense yet, but don´t worry, it will later. Actually it is not that easy to try to get into a mind that actually isn´t really there. The beast knows no words, so its perception of things is very simple and I tried to include that into its POV Its 'thoughts' mainly revolve around food, since this is mostly its only concern... Also, the beast is an 'it' since it has no concept of humanity, and I refer to Reno as 'he' because this way it is easier to understand who is meant. Okies, I hope it was still enjoyable XD Tell me what you think please?**

**Review replies (Yay!!! ^__^):**

**S h m i l e y's He. a. rt:** Haha, you think so? Lemme think; I don´t have read much fics with cannibalism in it come to think of it... I hope it´ll improve mine though XD Not telling who it is yet, we will get to know eventually ;) Soon I hope *scratches head* Thank you for reading and reviewing!

**patsch: **Haha, I suspect the creepy factor might have increased a bit from the previous chapter (or has it?) and I am glad you like Reno being Reno! *huggles the poor thing* Thanks for the review!

**Aeriths-Rain:** Thanks hun! *snuggles* I hope it doesn´t get too creepy, I am still not sure where this came from XD Hopefully you´ll enjoy the rest as well!

**natzilla:** Gahahaha, you are an alien, of course you find it funny when injured people get dragged down creepy corridors :P And the zoological references... I wish I could give you a deranged elephant smiley here XD Thank you very much hun, for taking the time and review again *squeals a bit*

**Viette:** Awww, I´m sorry! But you know, Reno is Reno, I suspect he won´t let himself get eaten so easily ;)

**Soyna:** Yesh, you´re absolutely right! Beasts don´t necessarily have to look like monsters... I suppose they can take any shape or form, it´s the state of mind that defines them. Yah, I suppose Reno´s thick skull is helping him out this time XD Thank you for reviewing dear!


	3. 3: My wounds are deeper than yours

**Happy Valentine´s Day everyone XD Kay, this might not be awfully romantic and fluffy, but well *shrugs* Valentine´s day isn´t big in my country anyway^^ Many thanks to the awesome Natzilla for doing such a fantastic beta job!!!**

**Enjoy!!!**

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3. My wounds are deeper than yours

Finally the EMR´s battery died.

Reno was thinking about doing some little, happy crying, but his head was already in pure agony, so he refrained from doing so. It must have been two hours of constant, sharp flashing, that didn´t even go away when he closed his eyes but simply reverberated behind his lids, and there wasn't really a way that he could get away from it. After half an hour he had given up trying to explain to the eery boy in the fridge how to turn the EMR off too.

Pure unadulterated happiness had bubbled up inside the redhead when the rod gave a last, weak sparkle of electricity and then blissful, cool darkness for his raw, tortured eyes.

Now he had finally time to concentrate on his swollen throat and the thirst that was raging through his tired, exhausted body. Reno felt like it had been ages since he had drunk anything, and unconsciously licked his dry, cracked lips.

At least he was getting used to the awful stink now, his olfaction having it dulled down to a faint, unpleasant smell.

"Hey, fridge boy!" he croaked, his voice sounding strangely full and raspy. There was no reaction from the box, even though Reno was sure that for just a split second the door had moved a bit.

"Water," he requested, rustling his chains. At last the fridge door opened fully with a high screeching. Reno winced, but sat stock-still to not frighten the boy and drive him back into his hideout. Was it just him, or were they slowly making progress?

The strange boy finally abandoned his stash, but doing so very laboriously : first his arms shot out, slowly followed by his head, long hair sweeping the floor. Eventually the rest of the creature´s crouched body moved out of the box, toes hesitantly pressing against the stony surface of the uneven ground. Reno might have found this stance hilarious, with that little butt stuck up in the air. Under these circumstances however, in this situation, there was nothing laughable about it ; it was utterly surreal and highly disturbing.

But apparently, this little creep show wasn´t over yet.

Without making even the slightest noise, the boy moved forward, his belly almost slithering over the sharp edged ground. His sharp gaze was utterly focused on the now dark EMR; he didn´t look at Reno once. And the redhead had the strange feeling that he wasn´t just a side issue right now, no, he was totally and utterly ignored.

Maybe that was because Reno couldn´t flash light out of his butt.

Whatever the reason, the boy kept doing his sleek, cat-like crawling. Instead of drawing nearer to his object of interest however, he kept his distance, pushing the awkward-factor up again, when suddenly his left leg and arm reached out simultaneously to the side, the rest of his body following. He was moving like a… crab.

Reno knitted his brows, mouth hanging slightly open, as he observed how the, probably very mentally retarded, other occupant of the room crept past the EMR in such a way that he didn´t have to turn his back on it. Once he had reached the other side of the room, he stopped for a moment, expressionlessly taxing the EMR, before slowly making his way back _in exactly the same manner_ he had passed it before.

"You gotta be fuckin´kiddin´me, yo!" Reno groaned, affrontedly rustling his chains to indicate his severe impatience and irritation. He was friggin dying here! "It´s just a bloody mag rod!!! The battery´s discharged, you hear me?! D-i-s-c-h-a-r-g-e-d. No flashy flashy anymore!"

Unperturbed, the boy kept crawling and fixating the EMR. At least he stopped, in a slightly askew angle from Reno, who still had a pretty good view on the scene. Too good maybe, he really needn´t see this. He wanted water, for Shiva´s sake!

The boy unblinkingly, and seemingly blindly reached out to a rusty, thin, long pipe, but his fingers curled surely around it nonetheless. And then the boy awkwardly hit Reno´s precious weapon, as if he was trying to kill it with one blow, but very uncoordinatedly so. The sound of metal clashing against metal was deafening in the thick, dusty silence, making Reno flinch and then relax again, unnerved.

"It´s dead, yo," the redhead growled sardonically.

Obviously the boy thought so too, because he let the pipe sink down after a few more testing stabs. Had Reno not been so busy mourning his loss of freedom and autonomy, he might have attested the boy some new disorder, because the pipe was put back in the exact same way it had been before; it fit perfectly into the soft dent that had been left on the dusty ground upon its retrieval, as if it had never been picked up.

"I´m thirsty! Water! I need!" His demanding explanations fell on deaf ears again, as the boy kept ignoring his captive. Instead he circled the bedstead, quickly climbing on it like a little ape. He took his former position again, crouching on the metalframe, toes expertly curling around the thin pole, his arms losely hanging by his side, almost touching the floor. Tilting his head to a slightly upward, left angle, the boy blinked once and then stared at the corner opposite him.

Reno followed his gaze with a frown, wondering what was up there that was so damn interesting. There was absolutely _nothing_ however.

…Maybe this was all a big, giant joke?! This kid probably was a booked actor, skilled without question, but just an actor nonetheless. Reno´s birthday was still 3 days ahead, but who was to know if his retarded team hadn´t arranged all of this beforehand? They could burst through the door any minute, with a delicious chocolate cake with extra icing, big, smug grins plastered to their faces. They´d never let him live it down that he had fallen for it, taking this bizarre travesty for real! But frankly, right now he didn´t care. He just wanted something to drink! (Preferably some champagne slurped out of the belly button from that chick in finances, but a crate of water would work too.)

"Okay, I get it, you can come out now."

He expectantly watched the dark hole in the wall serving as the door here, lifting a brow in an attempt to look unfazed and slightly bored, even though he couldn´t quite keep the relieved hitch out of his voice.

"Tseng, Rude, 'Lena, I knoooow you´re there, this is getting old yo."

Rolling his eyes, Reno rustled his chains a bit, getting unnerved now. He SO would take his revenge for all this!

However, his only company remained to be the catatonic boy sitting on his bedframe like a raven on a power line. His eyes were just as empty and mean too. They seemed to glow from the inside, a hollow, eery yellow light, almost as if they were blind. Reno had seen such a thing before. He once had to get 'lena´s stupid pussy down from a tree at midnight, but since he was set on screwing her he hadn´t made that much of a fuss about it. That cat´s eyes had looked exactly the same. Just more lively.

Reno looked back up at that apparently interesting corner that was still totally bland, even though he narrowed his eyes and stared so hard that his headache was heatedly speaking up again.

"What´s so damn interesting up there, yo?!"

His head snapped back to the boy, his voice exasperated and raspy. Fine sweat was running down his temple, neck and into the collar of his suit. He was glad he didn´t wear a tie.

The boy was gone however. Or at least Reno thought so for a moment, because he only saw a dark, vacant space. However the very next second the boy opened his eyes again, and the redhead gasped. His captor was perfectly camouflaged for these surroundings; he was smeared with dirt, his hair and skin dark beyond recognition, and he was also graced with the ability to remain stock-still and plenarily quiet.

A hand shot out, quick as lightning, gripping something from the ground that Reno noticed to be a terrifyingly BIG roach and to the redhead´s horror it vanished in the boy´s mouth, quickly, _greedily_ being stuffed in there.

The almost inaudible, little noises of the chitin armour creaking between sharp teeth could be heard coming from the bed, but it was underlaid by a soft rustling from all over the room.

Once he had seen one Reno could see all of them. A whole army of perversely big roaches crawling everywhere around him like one big, restless body.

He had time enough to draw in a sharp, disgusted breath before it burst out of him:

"Tseng, ´Lena, get me the hell outta here now, or I swear I`ll rip out your guts and shove them back down your throat!!!"

tbc

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**Review replies!!!!**

**Aeriths-Rain:** Thank you^^ I think in a movie it´d be easier to show how the beast is thinking, because one could outline what it hears and sees and work alot with strange effects without using any words XD But I´m very happy it is still working this way as well! I wonder if the boy is innocent or not... In a way he is, because what he does isn´t motivated by ill will, but hunger and lack of morality. Ah, we´ll see XD

**Vietta:** Whoa, thanks, I feel honored you´re still reading this then! Yes, the beast is human in shape and form, but there isn´t much of a human mind in there XD You´re right, that doesn´t look so good for Reno right now, but maybe he´ll find a way to escape getting eaten? ^__^

**papercliped-angel:** Thank you very much! I haven´t read anything like that either, so I hope it´ll turn out okay, with no reference XD I haven´t played Resident Evil, but that was an interesting quote. Ever wondered if these zombies had never learned anything to forget, but lived on their instincts all along? Maybe this is what they would act like...

**kiki-slasha:** Haha, thank you! *huggles* Yeah, I had a creepy moment when I started this, and it is dragging on for quite some time now XD Next chapter will be from the beast´s POV again, I try to give them equal 'screentime', though it is a lot tougher than writing Reno ^^' That´s very clever of you, thinking that Reno will stay alive for smex, but you know, there´s a thing called necrophelia *cough* ;)

**IA1979:** Thanks!!! I try to get a bit better at descriptions (they are a bit of my weak point I think), and since not that much is actually happening right now, I have the time to put it in! hehe, yes, either Reno 'fixes' the beast or he will get eaten, it is always hungry :) I have the next chapter written (it needs to get betad though) and there´s a bit of cannibalism featured and we will have to see if it is readible *a bit nervous* I feel that I am really pushing people with this fic a bit... Oh, and the peeing- I am still deciding if I should make that a theme. It´d be realistic, but it´s already gross enough...

**Soyna:** It makes perfect sense, and you´re absolutely right: you can´t reason with someone who has no reason XD Hahaha, yes. there is more creepiness ahead, but I hope you enjoy it as well! *hands new batteries* Thank you for reviewing!

**Tell me what you think please?**


	4. 4: A section of time

**Heya, new chapter^^ Many, many thanks go to my lovely Natzilla for the wonderful betaing and otherwise I´d like to thank my brain for being so messed up...**

**Enjoy!**

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** Chapter 4: A section of time**

The beast relaxed a bit. Finally the big food had stopped making noises. He had sounded strange towards the end and then he had coughed and made more noises towards the creature, but **it** had ignored him. **It** had no idea what "wa-ter" meant, and **it** didn´t care.

Actually, **it** was quite agitated. **Its** prey had scared away all the little hard ones with his screaming and shifting… Well, it wasn´t as if there wasn´t enough food; many of the other bodies still remained (three bodies to be accurate , however, numbers were a notion **it** couldn`t grasp . **It **did not know how to count and **it** didn´t need to. Three was many and many was good as it meant no hunger.) With the big one turning silent, though, the hard ones started coming back slowly…

Reno gulped dryly again, sounding a bit desperate. His throat must be bleeding by now. No one had come, despite him shouting threats nonstop. At least the roaches had backed off a bit, but that wasn´t that much of a comfort. Reno was still pretty miserable; not only was he thirsty like never before in his life, but his arms were killing him, and his head felt like it might explode any given minute. Despite that and being on the whole in agony, he was creeped out of his wits. Obviously he had finally managed to get himself into the MCA; and even his quite impressive career couldn´t provide him with any experiences to get out of it. If his head hadn´t hurt that much he might have been able to work out some kind of escape plan, but he felt too dizzy and quite frankly he doubted that he was even awake. It was much more likely that he was still unconscious and that his mind was fabricating some strange nightmares to torture him. He desperately hoped that was the case.

Grunting, Reno moved his arms. His tired gaze flickered over to the bastard again, who was hanging head down from the surgical light now, staring at nothing in particular out of creepy, empty eyes, lazily blinking every now and then, this being the only sign of life he gave. He wasn´t that small, actually, Reno noticed. One just got under that impression because he was always crouched down, or crawling… Actually, the redhead hadn´t seen him stand straight _once_.

Frowning, Reno shifted, as an idea hit him. With some difficulty he pushed himself up, wincing as liquid fire shot through his sore arms. Gritting his teeth he managed to get up on shaky legs, almost crying from relief as the chains released his stretched limbs. The turk leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment, letting the blood rush back down into his arms and fingers. They were tingling almost unbearably, but at least that distracted the turk from the thirst and his headache. His fingers were numb, and flexing them became a trial at first; he couldn´t feel the movements at all. After a time however the prickling subsided.

He stood for as long as he could. At first it improved his situation a lot, but it didn´t take his legs very long to become weary. With nothing else to do and focus on (and he really didn´t want to think about the roaches) his senses were all pointed at waiting for his legs to give in.

Of course, he could have spoken to the boy, but Reno´s throat still hurt from the earlier screaming . Also he was under the impression that to the kid he must have been nonexistant; not even him standing up had provoked any reaction at all.

The boy was still hanging down, his filthy long hair pooling on the ground. Reno was almost sure he had seen a roach crawl into the matted strands, but he hadn´t wanted to look too closely. At least the kid had made no sound or expression of disgust. Well, he had eaten them before, so one bug or two in his stinky, muddy hair probably didn´t bug him.

Just as emotionlessly, the creature watched as Reno collapsed back onto the floor. **It** could not understand how **its** prey managed to just stand on his hind paws; or why he would want to do that. Every moving thing **it** knew crawled on all their legs. Sometimes the small, soft ones sat on their back, and **it** had learned that from them.

The wonder of that strange position brushed the beast´s mind barely for a second however; it was a small curiosity, and it wasn´t like **it** hadn´t seen such before. The first time it had been agitating, confusing. Not now, not anymore. **It** had integrated this odd display into **its **routine, assimilated and processed it, and found that it was insignificant, giving up on investigating it.

Feeling lightheaded and dizzy from the hanging, **it** relaxed **its** muscles and fell down on all four soundlessly. **It** was hurting in the middle and needed food. The prey was breathing strangely now, but it didn´t sound too weak yet; maybe he was hungry too, but **it** didn´t see why this would become something to focus on, since **its** guest only needed to open his mouth and sooner or later something edible would crawl in anyway.

After having established that fact in **its** mind, the prey melted back into the wall for the predator, becoming only one of many breathing things around **it**. For one who had not developed a mind, a sense of self or speech to form thoughts, whose world only consisted of darkness, feeding, breathing and sleeping, there wasn´t much to consider. The only criteria that divided the world around **it** was whether things were edible or not.

With sleek, lazy movements the beast wandered to **its** pantry, crouching down before one of the bodies and absent mindedly tore off a rib while staring at the dark, blood splattered wall. Tiny soft ones were crawling in the guts of the dead man already, the bloated vermin breaking through the slimy walls into the liver and kidneys.

It was colder in here, distinctively so, which was why over time **it** had started to move **its** food here. Not that there was much to move, usually the former cold test facility was empty. There were times however, when **it** woke up restlessly, roaming **its** world and making everything stop breathing, because it was the only thing **it** could do. The only difference **it** made. It was very seldom that **it** felt that there was a difference between **itself** and… the _rest_. Usually **it** just was.

**It **chewed and tore and gulped and chewed and tore some more till the unpleasant condition of **its** middle was overcome.

Lazily **it** rocked back and forth for a bit, the dead bodies forgotten now that **it** wasn´t hungry anymore. After a while it got cold however, and the creature got back up on all four. On **its** way back to **its** lair, the beast lapped tasteless juice from one of the metallic tubs where it always gathered, letting the cool, fresh liquid roll from **its** tongue down **its** throat.

The region around **its** mouth got wet, the water trailing over blood smeared, dirty skin and leaving pale, white trails softly digging into crusts of mud and dust. Full, lush lips were exposed to the darkness, but the darkness didn´t care.

One who seemed to care however was the prey lying on the floor. As soon as his glassy gaze met the beast´s mouth upon **its** return back into the room, the white trails looking like the delicate dendritres of a flower bulb that blossomed into pink, soft lips, he started breathing sharply and excitedly again, tearing at the chains, being noisy.

The creature paid it no more mind than a squeaking hard one on the ground **it** might have squished: exactly zero. And the noises **its** future food produced made just as much sense to the creature as well: none.

Dragging itself back to **its** nest the beast folded **its** long limbs until **it** was comfortably snuggled against the rusty walls, and closed **its** eyes to drift off into dreams that did not differ in any way from **its** waking state.

tbc

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**It´s a bit short, but the next one should be longer again. I hope you liked it anyways^^**

**Soyna:** Hehe, I bet Reno´d try to pinch himself, if only he could ;) I think Reno is a pretty tough guy with a strong stomach, he might have seen worse, but we´ll see for how much longer he can hold on. I really feel for him, he was so unlucky *sigh*

**Divanora:** Thank you! I haven´t seen much horror fanfiction yet, but I didn´t explicitely search for it either XD I´m glad you like it so far though, this really is a challenge for me :)

**Vietta:** Ew yeah, roaches are groos, though I find spiders even worse *shudders* Hahaha, bribery candy, what a sweet idea! I wonder if the beast would take it though, it probably wouldn´t know what to do with it, and even if it did get the wrap undone and ate it and liked it it cetainly couldn´t make the connection to let Reno go in exchange for the candy. It would just want to search Reno for more candy bars and leave him hanging there, poor thing XD

**Aeriths-Rain:** I take that as a compliment XD And yes, poor Reno *sigh*

**papercliped-angel:** Sweet, I´m glad you like Reno torture XD Rofl.

**natzilla:** Hehe, I must admit that the 'little butt' thingy was inspired by you, from your review on the first chapter. I thought you might like it XD Yeah, spiders freak me out a lot more than roaches! But we don´t have really big roaches here anyways... Ooooh, you were in Marocco??? How was it? My cousin married a guy from marocco and recently went there, she was totally fascinated!

**IA1979:** Thank you! It might be because I am extra cautious in this fic, about the description and because there is not much dialogue XD Haha, good point about the peeing, he´s s dehydrated already, I guess he doesn´t feel like going for a toilet any time soon anyways XD

**Review please? That´d be uberawesome^__^ **


	5. 5: Death is the road to awe

**Many many thanks to natzilla for her patience with this chapter, it was a mess XD *huggles***

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 7 Death is the road to Awe

It was over, he could feel it. The thirst would kill him, slowly, cruelly, painfully. His tongue was so swollen, so thick in his mouth, almost suffocating him like an old dusty blanket... It must had passed at least 36 hours since Reno`s capture. He had read about it, how long the human body could be without water. However down here there was no way of guessing time; all stretched on, like an infinite piece of gum, dragging him along.

He had cursed the boy, screamed at him, and later, when the thirst had become so all consuming, he had even begged and pleaded with him. Reno didn´t believe anymore that anyone would pop out of the shadows, shouting 'surprise!' He didn´t see any sense in talking to the boy anymore either; he seemed to be seriously and extremely mentally retarded. All he did was sitting around, utterly silent, unmoving for _hours_ before he scuttled out of the room or into his box. Twice he had come back with traces of water running down his chin and both times Reno had been driven by the overwhelming urge to strangle and beat the shit out of him!

The roaches were back too, and not only that: a few pairs of mean, red, freakishly small and wide set eyes were staring at the redhead from the darkness and at one point he had seen a strangely deformed rat limp over the ground, vanishing in a cleft between broken tiles. Its head had been bloated and bald like a balloon filled with toxin instead of fresh air...

At that point he had been so lethargic from thirst that he didn´t really care anymore. The roaches had claimed his heavy body, crawling over his restrained arms, into his suit and over his face and all he could do was close his eyes. What were a few dirty insects compared to the drought that squeezed his body in its paper dry grip? He must look like a mummy already, shriveled and parched...

At one point, while he still had the energy, he had tried to turn his head and reach the moist walls with his tongue, but it had brought no relief at all. His tongue felt furry now and raw and dirty, and the tiles were stained with light smudges where he had licked away the muddy surface covering everything. Through all his misery the boy had just sat on his box, scratching his head slowly and rhythmically with his left foot (yeah, get _that!_), mouth apathetically hanging open till something crawled in and he snapped it shut, chewing just as listlessly.

Not able to bear the sight any longer, Reno had closed his eyes entirely, feeling his heartbeat slowing, his breathing becoming shallow. At one point he must have fallen asleep, drifting into a numbing, velvety soft darkness that was so different from the defiled, hot, light-deprived air of the room.

When he woke up again he almost wished he hadn´t.

His whole body was on fire. His head... his head was only one white flash of agony; he could feel his brain throbbing against his skull, trying to break free and take a bath in crystal clear, cool water, soaking itself greedily. Parts of his body had gone so numb that he couldn´t feel them anymore. Every nerve, every single muscle was screaming an agonized elegy, craving liquid so badly that he thought his body would turn itself inside out.

He was so thirsting for the blood of the deranged brat, he wanted to hear him screaming with pain and regretting having met Reno from the depths of his soul. If the boy had one that was, if he wasn´t just a spawn of hell, sent to punish Reno, for whatever reason and in the most cruel, sadistic way imaginable!

It was hard to remember life before he had come to this room. The sticky, warm darkness had crept into his mind on long, spidery legs, gnawing at his sanity, his memories. It had spun its venomous net around his rational mind, poisoning him, messing everything up and turning it upside down to hungrily devour Reno into its bottomless belly... Slowly at the beginning and faster as time crawled forward. The foundations of his being were crumbling underneath him, and and his precious, crucial memories were fading, leaving him struggling to regain his equilibrium, to remain himself in the all-consuming darkness.

Hadn´t it been so hurtful, Reno might have laughed at the ridiculousness of his situation. He had always pictured his death as much more heroic than dying here in this dirty, creepy fuckhole, surrounded by mutant rats, giant roaches and some mental ghost boy.

He needed to remember...

Where he came from...

Who he had been before he became that pathetic, thirsty mess he was now...

What was the world outside like, away from gravel, dust, rust, stink, death and darkness ?

„Wind," he croaked in a whisper, eyes flickering behind closed lids. Yes, he remembered the gentle breeze brushing over the skin his sloppily worn suit exposed around his neck and collarbones. Even the more forceful winds tearing at his messy hair, and whipping the rain in his face...

He must be hallucinating, certainly, because colours flashed in his mind and he could feel the wind raising goosebumps on his feverish skin. Good. He didn´t want to stay in hell.

Besides the breeze, he could also feel soft grass underneath him now. It swayed tenderly against his hands, and he let it slide through his fingers, careful not to cut himself on the occasional sharp edge. Above him something rustled, dryly, but pleasantly ; a full, calming sound.

„Tree..."

There was the sound of birds chirping in the heavy branches, weighted down with apples. In the distance he could also make out the constant humming of traffic and knew that he was lying under the apple tree in the Shinra park, not far from the office. Probably had a lunch break right now, far from all the paper work... He hated paper work. Especially since it was really just a cover up for their real jobs, the field work... But well, sitting in the office all day, sleeping and drinking coffee and occasionally chatting with the one or other office bunny hopping bywasn´t that bad actually, now that he thought about it.

His thoughts drifted off again, to the smell of grass, apples and faint dog crap.

A small, sardonic smile crept onto his face and he took a lungful. Ah, how he loved the natural smells of... nature. Stretching his arms, Reno crossed them underneath his head, eyes still closed. He was so content here, it was perfect. Peaceful. Warm....

His skin prickled a bit, not only from the wind, but from a pleasant heat kissing his face and the pale triangle of his chest. Where it fell on his black suit it was even warmer, but not burning. The heat was engulfing him, filling him with joy, and he greedily sucked it all in with every pore of his body. Slowly opening his eyes, his smile widened.

„...Sun..."

There it was, yellow and wonderful, bright and perfect, the epitome of warmth and secureness, protecting him from every bad (_...deformed vermin.... fridge people...._) and it was shining down only on him, welcoming him, embracing him, calling him.

And he followed, readily, happily, his other senses fading, melting into the warmth as the light became brighter and brighter and brighter and-

He was brutally jerked away from the light, and his world changed abruptly to wet and cold. Eyes flying open Reno tried to breathe, but he couldn´t. Something was holding him down by the hair and his hands flew up to tear at the persistent fingers, finally managing to get his head out of the tub and gasping for air. His lungs sucked in the oxygen, using up the little energy he had left and he fell back into the tub. The cool water moistening his dried lips however let him hoggishly welcome the liquid this time and he drank and drank, killing the fire in his veins. It was as if life was blossoming in his dried out body again, as if it took a deep, freeing breath.

At one point he had to stop, his eyes rolling back as he vomited next to the strange metal tub he was hanging over. He knew that he shouldn´t drink that much, that he should take small sips so his body could slowly get used to it, but he didn´t give a fuck right now. As soon as he was done retching, his head was right back in the water.

Eventually he got satiated, his belly feeling bloated. Water was dripping from his face and hair down to his neck and inside his suit, as he fell to the side, exhausted. Rolling on his back he stared at the thick concrete above him, where the sunlight could never reach._._

This literally was the place where the sun never shone.

And he was still here...

Only now, with his abused body coming back to its senses, it dawned on him that something had happened. He was free, not chained anymore. Somehow, he had gotten water...

Warily, his eyes rolled over to the corner, searching the darkness. He was in a corridor, stuffed with old, unidentifiable things piling up to the ceiling. There was the boy, sitting a few feet away from him, hugging his knees with white fingers, mud dripping to the ground.

And he was staring at Reno wide eyed, _seeing_ him for the first time.

tbc

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**Ah well, poor Reno... I am sorry for torturing him like that, I don´t want to, but to get the point across it is necessary, I´m afraid :( *huggles Reno***

Vietta: Gawd am I glad I never met a roach to squish XD Haha, yes, dying from boredom seems very likely for our poor Reno, there probably isn´t much exciting stuff going on down there! But maybe he´ll not die so soon...

Aeriths-Rain: Thank you, I´m glad you like it dear! *hugs*

Soyna: Ah, I am sorry. I know it seems cruel, but the situation Reno is in isn´t something he can influence much. But at least the beast got him something to drink now ;)

BoomChick: Heyyyy! I´m glad you enjoyed the story! Haha, you´re not the only one to think that eating a person´s rib is less gross than eating a roach. Maybe that is because humans resemble our normally eaten food much more than roaches do. Roaches are just small and crawly and ewww, whereas humans are... meaty *shrugs*

Rina: Welcome to the club XD I think I´d rather gnaw on a meaty human bone than swallowing roaches too :) Maybe the beast instictively feels that there is supposed to be more to its life. It still does have a different brain that needs stimulation and since the boy is right in the middle of puberty there also is some hormone imbalance. And we´ll see how Reno can influence the beast soon^^

natzilla: Hehe, the beast may be creepy and strange, but in an elegant way XD How did your hanging upside down go btw?

IA1979: Gah, you got me worried here for a minute XD Ah, about the walking upright: it needs practice, and the beast never saw anyone do it, so there is no reason for it to try it... Haha, I read that a human swallows 8 spiders in their life during their sleep, statistically. That´s so ewww, and I am glad I don´t do that either!

**Review please?**


	6. 6: Soulprint

**Many many thanks to my lovely natzilla for helping me with this chapter again!**

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Chapter 6 Soulprint

**It** had paid no mind to the noises coming from **its **guest . His breathing had become strange, slow and shallow, but not knowing what to do about it, **it** had remained in **its** nest, waiting for the little hard ones to come, going about **its** usual routine.

Then something had happened. The prey had made a sound that wasn´t just one of the constant, insignificant and uncomprehensible background noises; a sound that wasn´t blending into the meaningless static that constantly hit **its** ears and held no meaning.

For the first time one of the sounds connected to something inside **it**, forging a spiderweb thin bond. For the first time there was a connection that went beyond eating and being eaten.

"…_Sun_…"

**It** went very rigid, very quiet, **its** eyes darting sharply over to the strangely breathing thing on the floor. **It** did not know such a thing as doubt; **it** had heard it. Still, **it** needed a moment to connect the sound with the meaning it held for **it**. Tilting **its** head, green eyes slowly drifted up to… the _sun_.

Abandoning **its** position on the nest, **it** crawled down on long limbs onto the floor and over to the redhead. It probably saved Reno that **it** did not think; the process of acknowledging another being, putting itself into the others position, anticipating their needs, and acting according to a plan would have overwhelmed **it** tremendously – **it** only acted on instinct, but fast so.

Quickly unwinding the chains from the prey´s arms – **it **did not know why **it** had restricted the food in the first place, but **it** did not question the action either; it had been an instinct (or maybe even something **it** had seen a long long time ago, **it** couldn´t remember anyway) – **it** dragged Reno expressionlessly along the floor, in an unhurried manner. Then **it** sat there for a second, blankly staring at the wall, having forgotten about **its** task since **it** got distracted by one of the soft ones. After a moment and just as abruptly, **its** head snapped back to the strangely breathing big one and just as indifferently **it **shoved the prey into the tub.

In spite of **its** impassive exterior, **it** was quite shaken inwardly however.

Something about the food was different, it had to be. For the first time, **it** took the time to deliberately see **its** captive, studying him, acknowledging his presence. Reno had fallen on his back by the tub after he had finished drinking, and was staring at **it**, but that was not important. **It** heard his fast, nervous heartbeat, becoming more and more powerful again with every passing second . **It** felt his breathing, quick, deep and strong

**It** got up slowly, unconsciously hesitant, and crept towards the food, crouching down between the tube and **its **prey.

**It** smelled him. Everything smelled the same when it was covered in dust, but underneath, deeper, everything had its own, distinct scent. The little soft ones smelled like the little soft ones, though the smell might change depending on whether they were breathing or not. Little hard ones smelled like little hard ones. All smelled the same. Nothing smelled like **it**.

He smelled like **it**.

Tilting **its** head, **it** reached out, painfully slowly so with **its** fore paw, totally focused on feeling. Feeling past the strange hide that partially covered the pray, feeling more… warmth Little soft ones were soft, furry. Little hard ones were hard and smooth. Nothing felt like **it**, soft and smooth and warm.

He felt like **it**.

**Its** wide eyes glided over the quiet, evenly breathing, long body.....big body… All moving things were smaller than **it**.

He was big like **it**.

**Its** forepaws found the prey´s forepaws ; and although **its´** was dirtier, skinnier, marginally shorter…it was still a perfect match.

Impassively, **it** watched **its **own fingers stretching slowly to lay above the prey´s ones, not quite touching but hovering a mere centimeter over warm, wet skin.

**Its** hollow eyes shifted quickly and rolled back a bit, before darting to the tub´s calm, patient surface.

(Reno, freaked out for good at that point, kept as silent and still as possible, cautiously observing the whole scenario, at loss for an appropriate response to the creep, roughly pushing and poking and staring at him without either making a sound nor showing any expression.)

The water´s surface reflected a part of **itself** needing some alteration for** it** to make sense. Long fingers slowly dipped into the cool liquid, transferring some to **its** smudgy skin, liberating it from multiple layers of dirt, clearing it to something **it **had not seen in a long, long time.

**It** had not compared itself to **its** surroundings in a long time either, and never _deliberately_ so. **It** was different from little soft ones and from small hard ones and all unmoving, non-breathing things. This was such a fundamental, unquestioned fact that **it** hadn´t even been able to overcome this pattern of just _being_ when **it** had first noticed the big ones. They had just been another, different food, since they were breathing (and everything breathing was potential food).

**It** could not draw an identity from all these things surrounding **it**, and so **it** had just existed, without a distinct sense of self, just mechanically, instinctively following **its** bodily needs.

Now **it **was so deeply confused and off-balance that, for a moment, **it** was convinced to be _two_; **it** was prey and predator in one, as **its** mind could not make the leap to separating itself from the so very similar thing on the ground. **It** simply had no concept of _another_ **it**, something that was _like_ **it** but _not_ **it**. For a second **it** simply assimilated Reno, the two of them becoming one in **its** mind, namely **it**. It was as if Reno was **its** reflection; **it **instinctively knew that **it** and **its** reflection were both the same. And since **it** had no concept of mind and body, for **it** had no mind and just was, **it** was Reno.

However, as **its** eyes shot back from **its** own reflection on the still water to the body on the floor, **it** became aware that they could _not_ be the same.

The prey had shiny, huge glassy things, and albeit they appeared at first slightly similar to **its **own in shape and colour, they were essentially disparate in their nature. Whereas **its** eyes were empty, simple tools of vision, Reno´s were deep, helding things **it** could not even fathom; things **it** had never seen because to obtain them required bonding with other humans. **It** had always been alone, **it** had never learned emotion, apart from the essentials: uneasiness (near certain places **it** connected to physical pain), contentment (when **it** was satiated and nuzzled in **its** warm nest), wariness (towards certain flashy things). **It** did not need any more emotions and **it** could not have them because there was nothing to inflict them and no one to share them with. Hence **it** knew no facial expressions either; **it** did not understand them and **it** did not make them. And so **its** face was like hewn in stone ; unmoving, expressionless, empty and eternally young. No traces of sorrow or joy had marred the impeccable surface (nor what lay beneath), the perversely innocent impression **it** gave. It was the face of a newborn, just bigger, advanced, grown. A painfully beautiful face it was; the beast was an angel and the angel was a beast because they were both about the same.

**It** did not realize the meaning behind the difference in **its** and Reno´s eyes, and still it was like a blow to the guts.

In a sequence of rapid, erratic and overlapping impressions, **its** brain processed the information, not in the usual superficial, distracted way, but in a focused, albeit hectic one. **It** used all **its** senses doing so, as a substitution for thoughts since **it** could not think but only perceive **its** surroundings in a reduced form through smelling, hearing, feeling and seeing.  
Every smell, sound, movement, feeling, faded away; ; only the prey´s heartbeat, breathing, perspiring, warmth, blasted through **it**, shaking the foundations of **its** being, thundering in **its** ears, trembling on **its** skin, burning **its** eyes, intoxicating **it**; everything was pulsing, swirling, confusing and shifting.

_There was another __**it**__._

_  
_Upon that realization **it** knew no way to express the explosion within **it**, the feeling of being torn apart. The realisation of **it **and Reno not being the same backfired, because if **it** was not Reno, then _what_ was **it**?

For the first time **it** was confronted with the lack of an identity.

**Its** being was questioned, a disposition **it** had taken for granted all **its** life. And it was not so easy to just dismiss Reno for simply being a similar body; they had connected with the sound '_sun'_ that held a meaning for the both of them; something abstract that went far beyond the noises **it** and the small ones made alike. Just because they both shuffled over the ground did not mean that **it** could acknowledge the little ones as being something other than food. Now, Reno was more than food however; he was like **it** without _being_ **it**, and since **it** only knew the distinction between predator and prey, and since nothing down here was big enough to hunt **it**, **it** automatically fell into the first category. The fact that Reno was neither prey nor hunter overwhelmed **it**. **Its** only characteristic was being the one who ate everything; **it** was the predator and everything else was prey. **Its** identity, if one even wanted to call it that, was being the beast. There was no room for another predator, nor for a third category!  
What was **it** now, how to define **itself** in the presence of the _unknown_ (namely Reno)?! What reflection threw Reno back at **it**, now that **it** was robbed of being his hunter?!

**It** knew no word, no expression, nothing at all to handle this unbearable revelation surging up inside **it** and it probably was Reno´s luck that no heavy item was lying around for **it** would have smashed **its **new found companion´s head with a few hectic, anguished blows to escape this raw, utterly vulnerable and anomic state and go back to blissfully oblivious hunting, eating, sleeping, _being_.

TBC

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**AN: All right, this chapter might be ... difficult XD (I was told it seemed a bit like it was directed at a 3rd grade psychology student, sorry about that! Natilla helped a lot to make things a bit clearer though!). There might be some explanations in order. Since I wrote this from the beast´s POV I could not use sophisticated words and theories for better understanding either, because, well, the beast does not know such words *sigh* What happens here essentially is, that the beast becomes aware of another human being. Usually a human learns this slowly, when they grow from being a baby and at a certain age they are able to distinguish themselves from other people and learn that others have different needs than themselves (for everyone interested in developmental psychology they can have a look at wikipedia (or ask me about good books XD), there are really some funny experiments with little kids and apes ^__^). Also, emotion and empathy can only develop in communication with other people, children learn these by mirroring others, like their parents, siblings etc. Now the beast has no others around it, and subsequently it cannot have developed them. Furthermore our identity is largely influenced by how other people see us, we find our identies by comparing and distancing ourselves from others. The beast could only do this in the most basic manner; it does know that it is neither a rat nor a roach, a wall or a rusty pipe through observation. It established its identity by defining itself as the one who ate everything living down there, becoming the 'hunter'. As you can see with Reno arriving at the scene and with the two of them making a mental connection this foundation of the beast´s identity is shaken, it has to include Reno into its self-image somehow... Okay, I see this author´s note becomes longer than the actual chapter XD If there are any questions, please don´t hesitate to ask and I will try my best to clear things up!**

**Vietta: **We´ll see what Reno is up to in the next chapter! Right now he´s just pretty freaked out XD

**Aeriths-Rain:** Haha, yay XD I was drinking three liter of water during writing this chapter, it was an ordeal!

**kiki-slasha: **Aw, that would be rather easy, for Reno to die just yet... Nah, I have a few more ideas ;) And knowing Reno he doesn´t give a damn who is stronger than him, I suppose he just wants out XD

**natzilla: **Awww, you poor thing! *lies down with you under the snowed in apple tree* Hehe, the boy learned the scratching from the rats, or whatever creepy things crawl down there XD And yes, Reno would greedily have stuffed the banana into his own mouth :P Reno might not have died actually (his recovery wouldn´t have been that easy and first he´d have to deal with his organs and eyesight shutting off and whatnot) but he did halluzinate^^ Haha, yeah and he might have rather gone down into the abyss, but I doubt he´d cared that much if only he got away from the creepy boy XD

**InTheClouds: **Haha, you´re right, this kind of situation wasn´t covered by Reno´s turk handbook, unfortunately XD And I´m glad you enjoy it! I wasn´t sure people were interested in such stories^^

**TheSuperBanana: **Did you succeed? Scratching your head with your foot, I mean? I am so not flexible, can´t do it XD

**Trigger happy Chaingunner: **I bet Reno is glad too, that he got away from the friggin roaches XD I so would be -_- I totally feel for you, you poor thing! *kicks roach out of your room* Sorry to destroy the mood for you, I think it is Reno trying to manage the situation with his sarcasm XD

**IA1979: **Good question, I have no idea how I come up with such stuff. It´s just there... Creepy, uh? And thank you for the compliment! I recently read Poppy Z. Brite´s Lost Souls, I think that might have influenced the style of my writing a bit, because she is very descriptive^^

**Rina: **Thank you! *huggles* You´re lucky to only have to go to the next room, if I remember correctly you stock water glasses in every room? Very practical XD Yeah, I think we only notice the good things in our lives when they are gone, otherwise we take them for granted too often... I bet Reno´d give everything now to be back in his boring office. So, I hope the sight into the boy´s head met your expectations? *bites nails*

**Soyna:** I hope your questions were answered with this chapter? Haha, and I suppose Reno needs to see a shrink if he ever gets out of the lab XD

**Thank you so much for reading and reviewing evryone, it means the world to me and keeps me writing! ^___^ *huggles*  
**


	7. 7: Seven

Chapter 7: Seven

Even if he had been able to, Reno wouldn`t have dared moving; not yet anyway. He simply witnessed the strange reaction of the boy, that could maybe most closely be described as similar to a culture shock. Although he had no idea what was going on, Reno instinctively felt that it was something tremendous, something almost sacral and at the same time so profound that it was painful. The hairs on his neck stood up, and he was paralyzed, even though he felt the strange need to bristle.

This was the perfect moment to make a run for it, to jump up and escape as far as his shaky legs would carry him! Still, he could not move or pull his gaze away from the crouched, motionless figure that was hyperventilating in strange, agitated, hitched breaths.

Something was going on here, something he was an essential part of and still could not grasp. It made him feel rather stupid, and if Reno loathed one thing (apart from almost dying of thirst, chained in a hell hole by some freaky fridge boy) it was being out of the picture when something crucial was going on that included his own self.

Before his temper could kick in however, he first had to witness the boy rinsing his face,the water revealing part of it. It was not enough to get a full image of what he might look like under all that dirty crusting, but it was enough to reveal some incredibly white skin, devoid of any lines or wrinkles. A high cheekbone was visible, along with almost gaunt cheeks and the already known, full, pouty lips. Part of a perfect, straight nose. The thin, elegantly arched bow of a silvery eyebrow.

Constricted pupils in feverish, glowing cateyes.

For a moment time seemed to stop (not that it was an important guest anyway, time was lazy and had not much to do down here), as Reno stared at the beast and the beast stared at Reno.

"…Yo sunshine."

The venomously sarcastic words were spoken from a need to fill the awkward silence and to express Reno´s discontent with the situation in general, but it certainly hadn´t be said to evoke the reaction he got.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut, lowered his head and violently clasped his hands over his ears. To Reno it looked like he was in pain, but he didn´t have time to linger on that thought, because the very next moment the boy bolted, rushing back to his room on all four and only the smashing of the fridge door could be heard.

Blank faced, the turk laid there for a moment, mouth hanging slightly open. Then his instinct for survival kicked in and he hurriedly got up, grunting.

He had to seek support from the walls, since his legs were weak and trembling. Not only was he dehydrated, he also hadn´t eaten for quite a while now and felt dizzy, but the adrenalin rushing through his veins kept the hunger away.

He had no sense of direction down here; everything was just dark and stuffed and sticky and he did not know which way he had been dragged, so he just followed the corridor, away from the room.

Just get away from the fridge and its content.

Gritting his teeth, sharp eyes narrowed to slits, the redhead staggered through the darkness, passing trays, broken needles, rusty clipboards and abandoned, empty beds. All his thoughts were focused on escaping, getting through to one of his peoples. They surely were searching for him, if they hadn´t given up already, but he didn´t dare shouting for he didn´t want to draw the fridge boy´s attention.

The corridor ended in an intersection and Reno went left, since he somehow felt that this was the way up. He truly hoped so.

While shuffling along the dirty walls he fumbled with a paper in his pocket, pushing aside a zippo and extracting the crumbled map to have a look at it. His eyes flickered to one of the rooms as he passed it, absently noticing a large pool filled halfway with water that gave off an eery green light, probably due to the slick algae sticking to the old tiles. He didn´t have time for that, he was busy, frantically searching the map for some way out of this mess. However, as he walked further down the floor, passing more and more rooms it became clear to him that it wouldn´t work this way. He had no clue how far he had been dragged into the maze from his last known location and all the corridors looked pretty much the same to him: they were all dirty and chaotic and looked like they had been left in a great hurry.

Still, he couldn´t afford to stop and have a closer look, so he just silently cursed instead, racking through his hair with one trembling hand as he continued walking.

When he came to yet another crossing he decided to go right this time, still scanning the map for _something_!

Then he remembered the pool. Something as big and unusual as that surely had to be marked on the map, didn´t it? Frantically searching through the different levels depicted on the plan, he noticed several changing rooms and showers for the staff, but no pool.

"Excellent."

He took another turn, this time not even caring where he went, as his frown and the unnerved expression on his handsome face deepened.

"Fuck!"

Exasperatedly, he squeezed the map in his fist, very tempted to just throw the damn, useless thing away. Instead he took a deep breath, briefly stopping to lean against the wall and closing his eyes to calm down. Losing his temper would not help him get out in any way. The map was the only thing that could help him right now and he had to get back on track and follow the usual routine. Keep a cool, level head.

Okay, first things first:

There still was some beast running wild (even though he had that strange, disquieting feeling that this was the least of his problems…) and he was not armed. This problem at least got easily solved, as the redhead picked up a curved pipe from the dusty ground, weighing it in his hand. It was heavy enough to deliver a strong blow, but not too weighty to hold him back on his run either. Perfect. Also, there was a sharp end sticking out of it, where it had been broken. That would take care of his second dilemma, namely marking his way through this labyrinth. The last thing he wanted was getting lost in these creepy corridors.

For a moment he thought about making a torch before abandoning the idea. It might keep the roaches and mutant rats away, but who knew what other creatures it would _attract_ in return!

Besides, his eyes had gotten pretty used to the darkness by now, there was no need for extra light…

Reno had to force himself to open his eyes again, to not just glide down the wall and curl up on the ground. He was so exhausted, the adrenalin rush slowly wearing off and the nausea caused by his cramping stomach weakening his enthusiasm about running directionless through endless corridors.

Still he pushed himself off the wall and made his way further down the hallway. Sometime he just had to reach an exit, didn´t he?

'Sometime' was a rather wide term, as Reno came to realize, after dragging himself through tunnels and half collapsed corridors. They seemed endless, and quite a few times he discovered that he had been walking in circles, as his roughly marked Xs´ gleefully enlightened him.

Eventually, he couldn´t go on. When he came back upon the same intersection for the seventh time, he just tiredly stared at the mark, not even having any energy left to be frustrated or angry, and just slowly slid down the dirty wall. The pipe resting in his lap between his outstretched legs, Reno leaned his head against the cold concrete, eyes sliding half shut, chin lifted.

A monster rat scurried past him on five legs, its too long front teethscratching lightly over the ground.

Weakly, the redhead waved away a roach crawling up the wall next to his face, its antennas feeling the unknown creature up.

For some strange reason he did not care thinking about, a slightly hysterical laugh was bubbling up in the pit of his belly, coming out as a snort that ended in a shaky sigh.

Tabbing with his pipe on the floor a few times, Reno knitted his brows, before taking a deep breath and screaming his anguish through the dark, empty halls.

"FUUUUUUU-UUUUUUCK!"

After that his throat was raw and he fell back against the wall with no energy left. He was still trapped in this hell hole, but he did feel better. A bit.

At least it adequately summed up his inner turmoil and the situation he was in.

Grunting, he chewed his lip, letting his sleepy gaze wander over the wall opposite him. All expanding corridors had been marked with an X, meaning he would have to go back to the previous crossing and try his luck there… The thought alone made him squirm inwardly. He probably should get up and…

- but he didn´t want to. He wanted to sleep, and his waning iron will, his stubborn thickhead he was infamous for, had run out of arguments why he shouldn´t.

He needed to rest…

…7.

Blinking, Reno narrowed his eyes, slowly lifting his upper body to sit up straight and stare at a pale smudge on the wall opposite him. It was partially covered by old stuff piling up to the ceiling.

With his last bit of energy, the redhead got back on his feet, fumbling for his lighter. After a few fruitless snaps of the cog, a small flame flared up, its light drawing sinister, long shadows, but Reno didn´t care. His eyes were fixated on the smudge that was part of a seven. A minus seven.

-7.

He was seven fucking levels under ground, in a secret military science lab that was only supposed to have _three_ bloody floors.

No wonder his map was useless!

No wonder no one had found him yet.

Moving a hand through his wild hair and letting it fall back against his leg, Reno stood there for a moment, holding the lighter, not knowing if he should laugh or cry.

Reno decided for neither, instead kicking the trash that towered against the damn number, causing it to collapse with a voluminous rumble.

The avalanche revealed more of the wall that the agitated turk was still grouchily eying and his gaze got caught by a strange line on the dirty surface. The walls were dark here, and uneven, so he got closer, holding his lighter up.

The light violently flickered onto his face and Reno almost dropped the thing, surprised and dumbfounded, as it slowly dawned on him what he was looking at.

This was an elevator door. It had become almost unrecognizable over time due to the rust and dirt making everything look equally depressing, tarnishing his exit, his way to freedom.

Because the slight draft escaping from the door meant that there was a way out!

Quickly flicking the zippo shut, Reno picked up his pipe and started to work his way through the rusty metal, brimming with new found energy and determination.

He was so focused on his task to get out that he did not notice the shadow soundlessly creeping up to him from the long, dark corridor at his back.

tbc

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**AN: Many thanks to natzilla for betaing this chapter! I hope you liked it^^**

**Review replies:**

**Aeriths-Rain**: Thank you! I´m glad you like it, it wasn´t easy to write, but I had fun ^^

**Vietta:** If I was Reno I´d be confused as well XD I´d so pretend to be dead XDOh yes, poor beast, it must have the migraine of the century! _

**Divanora**: Yes, writing the last chapter was a challenge! Oh, cats don´t know that its them when they see themselves in mirrors? I thought they were smarter XD

**Trigger happy Chaingunner**: Hehe, I think it got its head kicked already XD Yeah, poor Reno, he really isn´t that lucky right now XD

**Rina**: Yah, I think beast-boy has quite a headache now :( Haha, no botox indeed! If only I had known before... but the clue is, in order to not make facial expression you can´t feel much either – which might not be so desirable. I rather like my little wrinkles^^ (ask me again in 20 years). And thank you very much! I put a lot of effort into the chapter, and I´m very happy you´re seeing it! *huggles*

**natzilla**: Hehe, so it works for you? Not making facial expressions? Maybe I gotta try then too... But the bad thing is, the harder you try the less it works -_-

**IA1979:** Yes, one word did change a lot indeed! Hm, I am not quite satisfied with the chapter, I must admit, there are things I think remained a bit unclear and confusing, but at one point I had to stop changing and writing things and natzilla helped a lot by clearing things up as well. Maybe I´ll give it another try at a later time!

**Soyna:** Yes, ignorance is bliss, indeed! But I suppose you can live in an illusion for only so long... And for the beast this 'illusion' was reality till the point it came into contact with 'the outer world'^^

Review please?


	8. 8: Nobody leaves

Chapter 8: Nobody leaves

Reno was struggling so hard that **it** was on the verge of utter frustration **It **had come up silently to **its** former prey, melting into the darkness like one of the huge shadows that seemed to linger on the floors from out of nowhere. Lonely shadows with no purpose, born out of nothing, their origins swallowed by the endless, crammed and lonely corridors.

It had been quite a trial to follow the other; he had walked aimlessly back and forth through the maze and **it** had trouble tracing his scent, that strange, musky odour that was a colourful mixture of sharp fear, exhaustion, helpless anger and sick wonder. The beast couldn´t put most of these together, so Reno just smelled exotic to **it**. Strangely… exciting maybe. **It** wasn´t excited very often. This time **it** was more cautious too, anticipating but also curious, and that curiosity had driven **it** out of **its** safe haven to go after the other, to soundlessly creep through **its** territory, following the alien scent.

And there he was, at the end of the tunnel, awkwardly sweating and hissing, trying to force open a small, dark slit in the wall with one of the long things. He didn´t seem to have noticed the sleekly moving beast, slowly crawling up behind him. **It** had quietly sat there for a while, watching the odd display out of flickering, lazily hooded eyes. **It** didn´t quite understand what the other was doing, but this time **it** didn´t merely focus **its** attention on something else, something less confusing. No, **it** tried to put things together instead, to follow what logic, what purpose may lay behind these actions. **Its** mind wasnt trained on comprehending human actions and had been dulled by **its** eventless, content existence but still the beast was rather bright once **it** wanted to be, and **it** noticed very soon that whatever the other did was driven by the urge to flee. Reno showed all the signs the little soft ones displayed when they tried to get away; he looked as squirmish and desperate as they did when the beast caught them for **its** meals.

Tilting **its** head, the beast just crouched there for another moment then reached slowly for a pipe, the heavy metal piece feeling very reassuring in **its** hand. **It** couldn´t let the other get away now that **it **had found him. In **its** eyes it was pretty useless to escape anyway since there were just more corridors, more and more and more, and they were essentially the same; stuffed, dark, moldy, blind and mute. The other could as well stay here and eat the food from the beast´s lair. **It** would share.

Since **it** only knew one way to get things back to **its** lair, **it** lifted the rusty pipe without hesitancy, small pieces of rust softly swaying towards the ground like crusted, bloody snowflakes.

By now **it** had found out that hitting too hard was no good. It made the big ones stop breathing, but if **it** hit more lightly they would only go limp and not move anymore. That was what **it** intended to do now; with a quick strike, making the other easy to handle.

Reno didn´t want to be easily handled it seemed though. Maybe he caught the blurry movement from the corner of his eye or maybe his guts warned him, but instead of hitting thin skin strapped over a not so delicate skull, the pipe crashed against Reno`s own raised weapon, igniting little warm sparks.

"Get the hell away from me you freak, I´m not going back, yo!" Reno pressed through gritted teeth, his breath rushing out in sharp, hot gushes. His eyes were wide with desperate determination, and he summoned his last strength to fight the fucker, (this time) becoming the aggressor instead of just defending himself. Of course the beast did not understand him, but the reaction was surprising and made **it **withdraw a bit, closely watching Reno as **it** circled him in the narrow corridor like a curious desert fox a rattlesnake.

Reno´s motions appeared slurred and slow to the beast, as if he was trying to fight under water, but still **it** remained cautious. There was a chance that the other would make that noise again_..._

_"I´m not going back, you hear me?!"_

The beast did hear, but could not understand. **It** continued to slowly circle Reno on all four, **its** pipe screeching over the floor when **it** was forced to duck suddenly at a helpless, but nonetheless determined swing.

If only Reno had had more energy left to fight, the struggle might have had another outcome. As it was though, after a few more frustrated hisses and staggers, the redhead had to lean against the dirty, slick wall, blinking as his vision blurred and white spots obscured his sight. Shaking his head and taking another angry step forward, stinging sweat running into his eyes, Reno croaked "Not... going... back..."

He even managed a caustic hiss at the damn fridge boy, but it was all he could do. Reno was fiercely fighting against his weak, traitorous body that was so close to handing him back over to the darkness, and he didn´t want to, he _refused_ to! No one would come for him, he was on his own and this might be his very last chance to ever see bright daylight again and get out of this stinking, dark, sickening hellhole. If he didn´t manage now then he never would, because then he would be at the mercy of the mental ghost boy who couldn´t speak or make any facial gestures_, _which was no wonder since _he had been living down here, seven fucking floors underground, for all his life !_

In other circumstances Reno might have felt pity for the boy at that sudden and very distressing revelation, might have felt cold, estranged and breathless. But he didn´t; he was busy staying alive and those apathetic orbs tracing his every weak movements in hungry anticipation made him so sick that Reno forced his sore, burning muscles to stretch and lift one more time for the final blow that would leave that empty, smudgy face in a mass of grey dead brain and bloody smashed bones.

Before Reno could aim, the pipe slipped from his numbed fingers and his swaying form keeled over like an old, felled tree.

The beast sat in the dark silence for another moment, lazily blinking at the exhausted, unconscious figure on the dusty ground, listening to the crimson droplets of rusty water dripping from the leaking ceiling down into a bloody puddle.

Then **it** let go off **its** pipe and dragged the body back home.

tbc

* * *

**AN: Sorry it was rather short this time, but the next one will be longer again, I´m pretty busy atm :( And as always I´d like to thank my natzilla (yes, you are owned by me now :P) for the wonderful beta-job!**

**Comment replies:**

**Aeriths-Rain**: Ah, I hope you haven´t been too disappointed that Reno didn´t get out :( But maybe he will find way later?

**Vietta:** The elevator might have lead him out of there, but Reno wouldn´t know, he never got the door open ;) Maybe there´ll be other opportunities? The beast can´t be bothered with hygiene, at least not yet XD But we´ll see more of it, no worries^^

**Divanora:** Haha, your cats must be fun XD Hm, well, right now, things might have taken a turn for the worse again :( At least for Reno...

**bonjourmeadow:** Aw, thank you, that makes me happy to hear^^ I hope you´ll keep enjoying this!

**Trigger happy Chaingunner**: Haha, yeah and who nows how many more floors there are underneath floor -7! I bet if Reno got those architects and map-guys in his fingers, it wouldn´t be a pretty result...

**Madisuzy:** Yeah _ Though the turning around didn´t help much *sigh*

**natzilla:** Erm... You´re being so counterproductive XD (But rrrrright). You need some sleep btw, this is not healthy *shakes head*

**Suvu:** Oh, a new reader! Awesome, hello! *enthusiastically shakes hand* Hehe, Reno has a wonderful, dry humour I guess^^ Oh and this time he wasn´t hit with the pipe, but that wasn´t really necessary anyway:( I´m happy you like my style, thank you very much!

**Review please? ^__^**


	9. 9: States of matter

**Chapter 9: states of matter**

Dark. Obscured. Tiles. Moist dirt. Shuffling. Fridge.

Reno closed his eyes.

He was back.

For a moment he felt so very tired that he couldn´t fight the dreaded embrace of the room that welcomed him back to its open, moldy chest. Reno needed time to let the waves of choking frustration and infuriating helplessness roll off of him, to wash him to the shores of his isolated self. He was an island, surrounded by nothing as far as the eye reached. He was utterly lost and his only chance to escape, his only raft, had just been crashed by a vicious rock hidden under shallow water.

What was left were mere shambles floating around him, and he was too hungry and tired to mourn its loss or to try to put it back together and escape anew.

The moment passed however, and he opened his eyes again. His lips and the inside of his nose were covered with dust and small rocks were digging in the soft skin of his cheek. With each breath he took, the ground moved a little. Reno was creating tiny dunes on the floor he was lying on. Apathetically, he watched them for another moment before bringing the blurred background into focus. At least he wasn´t chained this time, the threatening, glistening restrains just hung above him like intestines out of an opened belly, the belly of the room, trying to pull him in, to become one with that dead, hard body of tiles and concrete...

Using his shaky arms for support, Reno got into an upright position, gracing the boy - who was crouched by the door, watching him, pipe in hand- with nothing but a cold look. The creep was busy dangling a dead rat from his rheumatically twisted claws, watching its slow swinging with his head tilted as if he was trying to hypnotize himself.

By now Reno had no doubt that whatever he was facing here could not be handled with any known, regular protocol. His fridge-boy had jumped at him right out of the darkest, most terrifying nightmare and kept clawing to his face, refusing to let go. There was no use in talking to him since he didn´t understand a word of what Reno was saying. There was no use at all in trying to get the problem across. It was as clear as day now that this boy was as much an integral part of this underground maze as any rusty table or broken test tube on the floor; he was a piece of the inventory and always had been. Reno was no expert, neither in medicine nor in psychology, but the way this thing moved and behaved, its eating habits; it all pointed in one direction: The boy had been living down here all his life, shut off from the outside world, without any human contact.

Against all odds, somehow he had managed to survive.

Reno knew about the experiments that had been conducted on infants a long time ago when such tests had still been tolerated: The babies were fed and cared for, but no emotional reaction was displayed, no love and not the warmth of a gentle touch. They were mechanically handled by the staff and all of the babies had died within mere weeks. Every single one of them, no matter how healthy they were and what race or gender they belonged to. Other experiments with young apes had shown that, given the opportunity to decide, the latter chose the company of a simple plush doll over a metallic pipe that fed them milk, even if it meant starvation. The craving for warmth and love surpassed even the need for food. Without social interaction a human being was nothing; without being acknowledged, without recognition they simply died a cold, lonely death.

To think that this boy had not only survived the isolation but raised himself to a level that enabled him to stay alive down here – it was _unthinkable_. It was an impossibility so tremendous and overwhelming that it would have rendered any scientist in the outside world perplexed and well and truly speechless. Reno however couldn´t bring himself to give a damn.

He wasn`t on the outside, watching this abnormity safely from behind a thick wall of unbreakable glass, basking in the luxury of pitying that undoubtedly pathetic creature. He was right here, stuck with it, at its mercy, and he had to deal with it somehow. Fight for his own survival.

Which reminded Reno of how painfully hungry and thirsty he was... But those needs paled against the very urgent necessity to relieve his bursting bladder and he shuffled to his feet, using the slippery, cold wall for support.

The boy was watching him now, slowly letting his dead rat sink down.

Reno threw him another exasperated look and turned his back on the creature. He had to pee badly, and he assumed that, since there was nothing around that remotely resembled a bathroom and obviously, sanitary rules weren´t valued very highly here, he could just do it wherever he wanted.

Reno opened his fly and tried to block out the view from the prying eyes and tilted head of his captor. He felt a flush of relief as the first droplets of the oncoming flood started trickling.

It seemed that, in fact, the boy did _not_ approve as he suddenly leaped forward, pipe screeching over the hard ground. Reno ducked instinctively, one arm protectively held over his head, the other covering his precious crown jewels. He was waiting for the brutal crunching sound of his arm shattering under the blow but the boy just lowered his pipe instead. Now that Reno had stopped what he was doing the beast saw no reason to put him out again.

Reno gave a breathless hiss, slowly lowering his arm, bloodshot eyes wide. The beast tilted **its** head, as if **it** was deep in thought and then lifted the pipe again, slower this time. Reno took a staggering step back, almost tripping over his own feet.

Like two twin poled magnets repelling each other, the beast shuffled forward, pipe raised, trying to close the distance between **i**tself and the other as Reno withdrew once more, eyes angrily narrowed. So he wasn´t even allowed to take a piss or what?! Well, maybe his bladder would just explode and he´d die the most shitty death, but at least then he wouldn´t have to deal with the freak anymore!

Only when he realized that he had actually been led to step backward out of the room, did it dawn on Reno that there may be a purpose behind the boy´s threatening demeanor. It didn´t seem that he actually intended to hurt Reno; **i**t simply had noticed that Reno would move whenever **it **lifted the pipe.

Swallowing a lump of choking dust and dry spit, the redhead took a moment to look around; he was in the corridor now and he had two options; keep walking straight down the floor where he had fled the first time or take a right turn. He wanted to take the first route, hoping that somehow he could make it back to the elevator, but the boy protested by quickly crawling past Reno, blocking that way. Great, so they´d take the corridor that seemed to lead to even stickier darkness.

Suppressing a growl, Reno limped to the right, knees chafing against each other from trying to keep control over his bladder. They walked a painfully long distance, passing a few abandoned, mostly empty rooms. More dust, more darkness, more rubbish...

Reno was about to refuse to walk any further and just pee on the spot when he felt an imperceptible caress sweeping his sweaty cheek. Eyes clearing up again, he greedily sucked in the draft as if it was the elixir of life, and hobbled forward with new found energy.

It couldn´t be...? That there was another exit, even closer?!

Watching the beast-boy from the corner of his eyes, the redhead moved faster, trying to keep his agitation under wraps. He didn´t know if the boy could even read his body language but he wouldn´t take another ris-

Suddenly the corridor just ended.

The walls ended, the floor, the ceiling -- just out of nowhere the ground disappeared into a giant, bottomless abyss that even swallowed the darkness.

Reno backed away with a sharp gasp, shakily clinging to the wall. His head was spinning like mad, and he didn´t want to think of the endless fall had he not managed to halt on time! He snapped his head up to avoid looking into the giant chasm, but it wasn´t much better, because the shaft appeared just as endless upwards.

What the_ hell_ had happened down here?!

This was like a hydrothermal plume, just without the water and the freaky deep sea fishes... Well, Reno had his own creepy abyss creature, hadn´t he? Fridge boy shuffled past him, unfazed, his spidery fingers and toes curling around the sharp cliff. He rocked back and forth, blinking, slowly rotating his head till it was cocked in an askew angle. And then a thin stream of urine emerged from between his legs and vanished in the crater.

He had to be friggin _kidding_!

Reno was not happy to have found the 'bathroom', not at all.

On the other hand... his bladder was killing him, the stinging pressure unbearably painful now. Gritting his teeth, the redhead roughly zipped down his pants, forced his eyes to look up and went about his business as quickly as he could.

Once he was done, Reno felt a lot better physically but his head was still spinning and producing unhealthily vivid worst-case-scenarios of himself accidentally tripping over the edge or the boy shoving him and he quickly stepped back deeper into his safe corridor. Suddenly the darkness here didn´t seem that suffocating anymore...

The beast finished **its** business as well, **its** bottom now hanging above the darkness in a routinized manner until **it** had gotten rid of the heavy pressure in **its** belly. Scientists may have found it remarkable that **it** had learned to control **its** sphincter muscles instead of just pissing and pooping wherever **it** happened to be, but if **it** had had a grasp on words **it** might have pointed out that the smell of **its** own faeces was not a pleasant one; they were by essence a poison that had to be washed out of **its** body and therefore exuded a rather unpleasant stench. And smearing **its** poop all over the walls had been entertaining only for so long.

**It** had to check something nonetheless so **it** fearlessly crawled up to his very pale, sweaty companion, quite suddenly sticking **its** nose into the man´s groin to sniff him and confirm again the difference between them.

Reno wasn´t so thrilled about that and slapped the boy´s face away, aggravated and disbelieving.

Indignantly, the beast rubbed **its** nose with the back of **its** paw, looking like a cat that had been sprayed with water, and finally picked up **its** pipe again to usher Reno back into their living room.

Tbc

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**Many many thanks to the awesome natzilla for the wonderful betaing!!!!**

**Review replies:**

Aeriths-Rain: Yay, thank you XD It really has made some progress, hasn´t it? I think It might still be confused, but it is slowly learning how to deal with Reno^^

Soyna: Haha, yes, let´s all say it together: Pooooor Reno XD At least it doesn´t try to kill him anymore, that´s something XD

Vietta: Yes, Reno didn´t get out, but the elevator door is still there, so maybe next time? ;) And it´s not that annoying, actually, once you get used to It, it´s pretty okay XD

IA1979: Oh wow, thank you! I´m glad you liked it! I re-read the chapters recently, wondering if they were scary or atmospheric at all, because since I write them and know what will happen I am not spooked at all... Ah, the lonely thing - I don´t think so. I does not know what lonely means, because it was never left. It was always alone, it´s how the world is to it. Now, with Reno in the picture it might change, we´ll see ;) (How´s the LJ going btw? XD We´d love to welcome you over there^^)

Rina: I know, the beast is so adorable in a way XD It´s really innocent, it just doesn´t know right or wrong, but I guess it digs Reno now, a little bit XD Well, the beast does hit Reno with his pipe, does that count as stick-poking? XDDD

natzilla: Great, now that I own you: do the laundry and cook something nice :P And I might consider preparing you a tiny nice corner on the balcony^^ *feels generous* I think you giggled because you are crazy-chan :P seriously *shakes head* (I giggled too, a really maniac, hysterical voice but psssssht!). Well, if you´d like to come here I can take you to the Beelitz Heilstätten for real ;)

Suvu: Ah yes, if Reno gets hit over the head one more time, his brain might be sulky and refuse to cooperate anymore XD But let´s hope that won´t happen anymore^^

Arken Elf: Thank you, I´m glad you like it^^ I hope you enjoyed the new chapter too!

**Review please?**


	10. 10: Boredom

**Hey there, new chapter and I´m super stressed, sorry it´s not very long __ Many many thanks to my lovely Natzilla for the wonderful betaing!!!**

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Chapter 10: Boredom

Reno lay with his head against the dirty tiles that had become somewhat comforting in their broken solidity; they were not as warm and soothing as an understanding shoulder, but they were as close to it as it could get down here where everything was raw and rotten.

His eyes drifted restlessly through the dark lab, unable to focus on anything, just gliding and slipping and falling off like a slug trying to crawl up a wall of smooth glass. Eventually they settled down on the boy again, as always, because he was the only anchor here, the only thing to focus on. Even if he was as still and mute as any dirty, soiled object in this prison of dust and oily blackness.

Apathetically, the redhead watched the boy who was sitting on the rusty bed and looking back at Reno with empty eyes. Reno had never suspected that he could ever die of boredom, but now the prospect appeared like a rather painful way of leaving this world. He had somewhat gotten used to the seemingly endless periods of inertia broken only by trips to the john and sleep and it was numbing his shrewd mind, wrapping it in a thick coat that dulled his senses and his ability to grasp a thought long enough to make his synapses spark. Not that he wasn´t feeling empty and restless underneath that layer of impassive monotony but Reno just couldn´t fight his way out. He was trapped in a sticky cocoon, and the prospect of finally shaking that tired resignation off his shoulders wasn´t very exciting anyway. There was nothing to do down here and he would rather sooner than later slid down the walls again to gather dust and dirt... Hunger and thirst could only distract him for so long, and they wore away the edges of his usually sharp mind only further. It was bearable for now, but for how much longer?

If only the boy hadn´t been so...- the way he was. So utterly non-existent. Reno was tired of trying to provoke a reaction from him as it only ever resulted in a pipe hitting his bruised, sore forehead, and that was the last thing he needed even though the pain had become a welcome distraction. Something to make him forget this lethargy for a while.

Reno shifted a bit, getting into a more upright position, his matted hair wiping over the tiles that had turned somewhat polished where his body rested. If he did die here, his silhouette at least would remain imprinted on the dirty wall, witnessing where he had spent his last days; the clean shape of his weary body would stay as long as it took the room to erase his existence under new layers of dust. Or until the tiles fell off.

The redhead´s chest heaved in an inaudible sigh, his lips tightening into a thin, pale line. It was most likely futile to try but he didn´t have anything better to do, so finally Reno broke his long silence.

"I´m bored outta my wits yo," he informed no one in particular since nobody cared anyway and the sound of his listless voice droned through the thick, suffocating silence like the after ring of a low bell tolling for an empty mess in a long abandoned church for a nameless, forgotten god.

The boy´s head jerked up, and in a sequence of abrupt, fitful motions that took Reno´s numb mind too long to put together, the other was suddenly right in front of him.

Reno´s heart pounded heavily in his ears as, in the blink of an eye, his line of vision was brutally invaded by a dirty face. Time stopped. Everything else ceased to exist.

The world was two large, round pupils_, _black and bottomless, rimmed by a circle of venomous, sickly green and slick white.

Reno had never thought about it, but all of a sudden he understood why a wise man once had said that if you stared into the abyss long enough, the abyss would stare right back at you. The abyss was staring at him right now and it was so utterly terrifying, so infinitely empty and lonely and dark and bottomless that Reno thought he would just dissolve in it. He would be swallowed and still he would have to bear it all by himself and his heart must stop beating, because he had never been so petrified in his life before as he was now in that endless moment.

Pressing himself back against the wall on instinct, but unable to move otherwise, Reno stared into the boy´s smudged, shapeless face that was mere inches away from his own, their noses only separated by a thin layer of air.

The boy´s jaw dropped as if it weighted a ton and wasn´t able to support itself anylonger, simply giving up and hanging from the fine boned face. Entranced, Reno stared back_; _he didn´t want to look, he didn´t want to see what was gaping at him but there was _no way_ that he could _not_ look either. When he had been little, he had just _known_ that there was something hiding under his bed, something very very very bad and unspeakably evil, but he just hadn´t been able to bring himself to look, he had crawled under his blanket instead, shaking, rolling into a tiny ball, and sweating it out, because he knew that if he _looked_ he would die!

If not worse.

That same irrational terror was assailing him now, as his gaze got sucked into a cavity of rosy, slick gums and slightly moving, pulsing flesh _. _It was the gate down to the abyss, rimmed by white stumps the size of miniature baby skulls, orderly lined up and pressed into pink meat. They would crunch anything that entered that gate, and Reno would fall, fall until he was drowning in stomach acid. It would eat away his eyes, and Reno would scream in agony, only making the acrid venom sweep inside his mouth, while trying to stay afloat in this soup with his bleeding, skinned limbs.

Quick little puffs of condensed breath escaped from Reno`s own mouth, misting the beast´s. Black silence was swirling around them, humming and deafening, squishing the two of them together between its merciless jaws. Reno was paralyzed by dread, he was so afraid of what would happen if time started to roll again, dragging them over the edge of the cliff they were hanging by right now.

He mustn´t blink he mustn´t move he mustn´t breathe OR THEY WOULD TIP OVER-

In utter terror Reno had to watch as the beast´s jaw jumped all of a sudden, like the heartbeat of time recovering after a spontaneous standstill and all his hopes were washed away, drowned in a deluge of cold water. They just sat there wide-eyed, Reno half lying against the wall, the beast crouched over him.

And then the boy´s Adam´s apple started working, pumping frantically up and down his throat as degenerated vocal cords were pressed and stretched to the point of near rupture. The low murmur bursting out of his throat was hitched and badbadbad and the sounds that eventually followed so unbearable, so strange and alien that it shook Reno to the bones and every nerve in his body screamed right back at the shrill, long and most disturbing croak with which the beast was desperately trying to make contact.

TBC

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**Review replies:**

Aeriths-Rain: Haha, the beast has no idea what a living room is, but Reno dubbed it the 'living room', because he starts to see this lab down there as an enforced home XD Yeah, poor Reno couldn´t have felt very comfortable in the bathroom, but maybe he doesn´t care that much anymore?

Divanora: I rather prefer my clean, ordinary bath room XDDD And the beast is learning indeed! It might be for the better - or maybe not ^^

Vietta: Poor Reno indeed, he´s incredibly patient I must say! But then again he has to learn and adjust quickly, because otherwise he´ll get hit again XD I don´t think the beast ever heard about anti-authoritative upbringing... Hm, I think first fridge-boy wanted Reno to be his food, and now he doesn´t really know what to do with Reno. He never met another human, he knows nothing about social interaction... But at least he tries to communicate now^^

natzilla: Yes! Most animals know that they are not to pee where they eat! But as 'cultivated' and 'sophisticated' as Reno is he has forgotten about his instincts, I suppose. Ew yeah, wells and abysses... you can´t see the bottom and they make me uncomfortable too. It´s like swimming in open water __ I think you´ll use the bath room drunk only once :P Heh, and you´re very welcome, my balcony likes you a lot, it just told me so!

Tristripe: Ah, that is a very good idea! I will try to use the capitalized It then, instead of the bold one. It´s not as flashy XD Hm, I can´t really see Reno whining and sobbing about it; he takes it with a huge portion of wry sarcasm XD And he is a fighter of course, he won´t give up that easily. Thanks again for the suggestion, I´m happy you like it so far!^^

terracannon876: Haha, thank you! I think I will blame the very very very looooong and dark winter for this fic XD It makes me depressing and disturbing -.- Now that it´s over and the sun is shining again I have a bit trouble to get back into that mood but I will try my best XD The boy is not an OC, actually, he is a character from FFVII, but it is not yet revealed who it is ;) If that is of any importance at all, but we will see later who he is^^

Suvu: Yeah, at least Reno knows now where to go if he needs to XD Hm, I suspect that Tseng and co are frantically searching for Reno, but this is quite a maze so it will take some time, if they ever find him... Reno has been down there for a few days, but time down there is very hard to tell, and stops to matter :)

bonjourmeadow: I hear ya! I will take my time, because there´s research and whatnot involved, and basic human interactions are not possible, because the beast isn´t really a human per se. It´s behaving more like an animal and it has to learn a lot *sigh* But it tries ;)

Rina: Heyy! *smohers* Yeah, yet another fic, sorry XD Since there´s next to no dialogue going on here I have to focus on description, and it´s quite fun actually! I learned a lot from reading your fics, I hope, like taking my time and not rushing through the events as much anymore. The baby experiments were real, but not with the intention that the babies died. It was just a test, and it was fatal. Similar experiments were interrupted when the children´s health decreased. There´s been other experiments with apes, for example Harlow´s Pit Of Despair, where he let little monkeys bond with their mother for about 3 months and then put them into an isolation box for a year. Within a few days they suffered from severe depression, stopped moving and never recovered -__- Yay, I´m happy it had an effect on you! Since I´m writing it and know what´s happening already it hard to anticipate how the reader will react to it... Yes, most animals are very clean, it is an instinct Reno maybe 'lost'. He´s trained to use the bath room, but as soon as anything that qualifies for a toilet is gone he´s lost, somewhat XD ANd thanks for the extra points! I was wondering if it would cost me readers, but the contrary seems to be the case!

Arken Elf: Thank you very much! The characters are complex indeed, and I cannot show every facette of it, but I´m trying XD I hope you enjoyed the new chapter as well!

**Review please?^^**


	11. 11: Nightmares made flesh

Chapter 11: Nightmares made flesh

The beast´s attention span wasn´t very wide. **It** had no natural enemies down here, hence didn't know caution. No need to concentrate on anything unless **it** was exploring new territory and **it** seldom felt moved to do that. Nothing new ever happened here, things were always the same, no disruptions. Disruptions were mentally and physically exhausting.

Originally the beast had 'intended' to make a difference – **it** trying to make noises should result in something, should change something, should cause a reaction from the other. **It** wanted to make 'sun', see what happened. **It** was simply mirroring the other´s actions, but intentionally; for the first time the beast had initiated a contact in the purpose of getting involved with the other.

As it was, **it** got distracted halfway, though.

Instead of observing the other's reaction to **it**s 'sun', the beast´s mind slipped from the matter at hand, as **it** tilted **its** head, listening to the sounds **its **own throat was producing. It wasn´t even vaguely close to sounding like 'sun', but it was new, something **it** had never done before and it sounded strange to **its** ears, felt strange in **its** throat.

**It** kept staring blankly at Reno, but the redhead could tell that the boy wasn´t looking at him anymore; his eyes had become dull and introspected. His jaw looked still strangely dislocated but his throat kept uttering vehement sounds, hitched and crooked, broken and crippled.

The tiles in his back gave off a small protesting crackle as Reno pressed closer against the wall and gripped the floor. His long, frayed fingernails scraped against the dusty, gravel littered ground. The hot gasps rushing past his lips didn't help cooling his sweaty face one bit. His ribcage felt too narrow to contain his jumping heart.

The beast kept screaming; Reno´s eardrums were about to burst.

It might have gone on forever like this, with the beast caught up in **its** noises and the other staring at **it** in horror, if it hadn´t been for a new instrument suddenly joining the ongoing symphony of madness.

The beast stopped short and snapped back its head towards Reno. The redhead quite abruptly woke up from the trance the constant screaming had put him in.

The abandoned lab went utterly silent for the exact time it took a deformed, one-eyed rat with an open back to scurry from the rusty bed and slip away through the hole in the wall that served as 'door'. Neither of them noticed as they were both staring at Reno´s belly, wide eyed.

And then it growled again, almost petulantly.

It was cramping very insistently, and Reno´s features that surprise had relaxed for a few seconds, clenched now into a heart- wrenching mixture of frowning and complaint. In the face of hunger, fear stood no chance.

It also helped Reno clear his mind a bit, letting him regain some of his old cynism and rationality. He deduced quickly that the boy may not be as oblivious and ignorant as he seemed and that he could react in different ways than swinging his pipe.

There was potential, maybe.

"Hungry."

**It** couldn´t make anything out from the croaked noise the other made, as it didn´t sound like 'sun' at all. But **it** could connect the _growling_ to something familiar.

The next rat that limped past them was caught by its worm like, naked tail and languidly smashed to the ground a few times, its deranged, desperate whimpering succumbing to another growl.

Reno licked his chapped lips with a too dry tongue that felt like a mossy carpet in his mouth. The beast´s mechanical movements as it killed the rat were kind of unnerving, as was the dead animal that suddenly landed in his lap. The warm blood smelled coppery and was soaking the dirt- crusted fabric of his pants.

"I´m... not supposed to eat that, am I?"

The disgust in Reno´s voice was laced with ravenous greed. Okay, so an undetermined time ago, when he still had been walking in broad, happy daylight, woven into the sophisticated networks of civilization, this fuzzy haired, disfigured body that was being offered to him would have elicited nothing but revulsion. The thought of putting something like this in his mouth wouldn´t even have _crossed _his mind.

But... Reno was starving...

Yet, not nearly starved enough for this. Or so he decided as he lifted the smashed creature with reluctant, stiff fingers and let it dangle in front of his face, brain juices, hair and teeth fragments dripping onto his lap.

The beast followed his every moves with the same nonexistent enthusiasm it watched everything, though **its** body was tense, maybe with anticipation. **It **did not understand why the other let the soft one sink down after a moment, emitting a weary sigh. The causality between the noise the other´s middle had made andthe countermeasures the beast always took when **its** own middle growled and hurt was quite evident, wasn´t it? Projecting **its **own needs onto Reno was quite difficult, since the beast had no empathy or sensibility. **It** possessed instinct, but apparently that had failed the beast, since the other didn´t do what he was supposed to, namely, eat the small soft one...

It took the beast another moment to come to the conclusion that there was still the option of smaller, hard ones. Of course there could have been other reasons as to why Reno wasn´t eating the rat despite his belly growling like a whole chorus of hell hounds, but they were too complex for the beast to understand. The beast, not knowing 'disgust' or restraint, couldn't imagine them as motives for rejection. In fact, **it** didn´t think nor care for any reason at all; the other simply didn´t eat the soft one, so he got a small hard one instead. For all the progress they had made in this very short amount of time -the beast had started to change a lot, learn a lot- it was too complex, strenuous and mentally exhausting, and **it** still chose the line of least resistance.

**It** didn´t question either why the other wasn´t searching for his own food, as he was obviously hungry and could easily have remedied his predicament. No, **it** was not able to ask itself such questions, not yet. True, since it was easier to compare Reno to something **it** already knew (namely, **itself**) instead of seeing the redhead as something wholly different and unknown (which would simply have overwhelmed the beast´s mental capabilities anyway) it was simpler to just project **its **own needs onto the other, but **it** was also aware of differences between them, and Reno´s lacking enthusiasm for dead, smashed rat was simply dismissed as one of those incomprehensible divergences.

The boy´s eyes were restlessly flickering over Reno, as if unable to focus, but otherwise he kept as still as a statue, or any dust covered object down here, maintaining his crouched position over the Turk and reminding the redhead very much of a rabbit on alert . A very dirty rabbit with very sharp teeth and a very unhealthy habit of killing everything on a whim.

"Hungry," Reno repeated, a bit helpless. Most likely it was a futile attempt to explain himself or try to change anything about his situation, but at least the boy had reacted the first time, hadn´t he? And he had given Reno food as well, kind of. It wasn´t really his fault that Reno couldn´t warm up to the bundle of gray fur and bloated tumors...

All of a sudden the boy made one of his abrupt, unexpected movements that never failed to take Reno off guard and creep the shit out of him. This time it was a half smashed roach that dripped its dark juices onto Reno´s pants where the chitin armor had yielded under the beast´s paw dashing it with ruthless efficiency.

Reno picked it up with fingers as pointy and reluctant as they had been with his first course, producing a long string of slimy goo between this part of the sectioned insect and the other half remaining in Reno´s lap. Well, he had eaten insects before, during survival training camp, so this shouldn´t be too hard, and he was _hungry_. And hadn´t he read somewhere that roaches were very nutritious and high in proteins ? Granted, he´d never seen such fat, deformed ones and upon closer inspection he noticed they had quite sharp and disproportionally big jaws and forceps...

Reno gulped dryly and steeled himself. With a last mental shrug, he tilted his head back and lowered his meal down his open mouth.

The insect's countless long legs and antennas started to twitch frantically, brushing over and poking at Reno´s chapped lips.

"HOLY SHIT!"

Almost choking on his own breath and shuddering in disgust to the bone, the redhead impulsively smeared the jerking torso onto the ground with his palm. He lifted his hand to see if the damn thing was dead already but there was nothing left apart from goo and tiny pieces of chitin sticking to his palm, that Reno hurriedly rubbed off on his pants. Not that he wanted it there either but it was better than direct skin contact, and the little water they had couldn´t be wasted for such a decadence as washing one's hands (or any other body part for that matter).

The beast sat there, eyes glassy and uncaring, staring at the spot where Reno had smashed the insect it had so very graciously bothered to catch and present to the other. Still studying the smeared remains on the ground, **it** reached absently past the other´s lap and fetched the dead rat by the middle with bony fingers. In pretty much the same manner some people automatically shove down popcorn in their mouth during an especially intense scene at the movies, the beast slowly bit into the rat´s broken head, ripped it off the shoulders and started chewing.

Reno groaned and relaxed back against his cool tiles. Of course, he couldn´t look away from the unappetizing scene in front of him, the blood and brain tissue dripping from the boy´s mouth, the pieces of fur that stuck to his lips when he took another bite, briefly showing his smudgy teeth and the half chewed mush behind. The rat´s intestines were hanging out of its half eaten body, dangling in the air in an almost cheery manner.

Reno´s belly growled even louder, viciously cramping into a tight, hot knot, punishing the redhead for being so goddamn picky!

"Maybe... I should have a bite after all, yo..."

He licked his lips again, disgusted and ashamed of himself for succumbing to his most primitive needs, but he was in agony now, weak and yearning for something to appease his choleric stomach.

The boy stuffed the rest of the dead rat in his mouth, leaving only the tail hanging outside, and just slipped away, crawling out of the lab and into the darkness of the tunnels.

Reno made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat and let his bony shoulders slump, his suit hanging now too loosely on his starved figure. He lifted his hand, where some of the slime was still drying between his fingers.

Before he could suck and lick it away, however, fridge boy reappeared, creeping up to the redhead once more with something big in his mouth.

And this time Reno didn´t hesitate when he finally sunk his teeth into the rosy piece of raw, delicious meat that was thrown before his feet.

_tbc... sometime hopefully soon_

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**Review replies:**

**Aeriths-Rain: **Thank you! *huggle* I wonder if we will ever find out what happened down there and if the beast can ever become human^^ The good thing is that the beast doesn´t know how pitiful it is XD

**Tristripe:** Ah yes, sorry... But it is really hard to get into a gloomy, depressing mood when the sun is shining all dayyy long :( The boy is trying to make contact indeed, let´s see where it´ll lead them^^

**Vietta**: Yeah, it was pretty short, sorry _ Fridge boy is trying to talk all right, but he´s not very good at it I´m afraid XD But you´re right, it´s better than hitting ;)

**Rina:** Yessssssssssshhhhh, cold ebol eyes frum hell! *scary organ music in the background* But you know, the bathwater... I bet they both need one, desperately. And damn, now you totally spoiled the surprise XD Nah, it´s not the girl from grudge, I will prove it! Maybe next chapter if it ever gets written *sigh* Did you watch the original japanese version of The Grudge btw, or the american one? The japanese one is wayyyy scarier *huggles and crawls under blanket with you*

**Soyna:** Yes, Reno isn´t lucky :( The boy does try to speak, but not because he remembers anything it knew before. He has never spoken before... But maybe Reno can teach him now^^

**Trigger happy Chaingunner**: Haha, yesh, Reno was_ almost _free. Hrm, depending on how you look at this fic it can be very funny indeed^^ At least I have fun writing it :D Yeah, Reno dying of boredom isn´t very cool, but shit happens, I guess... but no worries, he probably won´t die of boredom. And I think he should totally heed your advice, I´ll let him know^^

**natzilla**: Hm, I was high on... music XD You know when I listen to Cannibal Corpse´s stuff the ideas just come and come and come... ;P And I had a look at the album cover you told me about, and it really does kinda fit! Haven´t seen it before though. Oh dear, do I know boredom! Right now I wished I could remember, I´m sooo swamped with work and there´s still so much stuff I have to update _ But I´m very happy you enjoyed the chapter, thank you for your help^^

**bonjourmeadow:** Yesh, it´s learning! XD Hm, psychology... I´m not sure I should rely on it so much; natzilla has to take hours and hours to edit the chapter so it is understandable for non-psychology students (or so she says XD).

**Arabella Strife**: Heya, thank you for the review, I´m glad you liked it so far^^ Sorry for the long wait, but I hope you like it anyways XD

**SilverFoxLook but don´t touch**: Here´s more^^ (May I poke you now?)

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**Natzilla´s teh bestest for betaing and editing this chapter!**

**Anyone still interested in reading this fic...?**


	12. 12: Happiness

**Heya! New chapter! It´s a bit shorter than the last one, but it´s here pretty early compared to the last one ;) And it has sXmXuXt... kinda... You´ll see XD**

**Many any thanks to teh awesome Nat-Nat for her incredible betaing! *throws you some rat in eternal gratitude***

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 12: Happiness

The beast watched with some strange sense of accomplishment as the other busily devoured the big piece of raw meat. It kept note than its guest only ate the big one, unknowingly creating one of its first conscious memories in the process. After a while it crawled back to fetch itself a piece of the good stuff as well, uttering some deep, strange purring noises all the way. It was making 'sun', but it was still practicing.

When it came back with some meat, it sat near Reno, closer than usual the redhead noticed, and tore big chunks out of its meal. Since Reno had already finished, he just leaned back and observed the boy with a bit more interest. His belly felt a lot better now, though not completely filled. Maybe that was actually a good thing since he had heard that after long periods of starvation it could be dangerous to eat too much at once. If he ever got out of this hellhole he wouldn´t give a damn; he would run directly to his favorite restaurant (which happened to be a bar, but they served food as well and it was quite good too) and order the complete menu. Warm, steamy tomato soup with mozzarella cheese and basil for a start – he´d have it all and there´d definitely be no steak. The raw meat he had just eaten might taste better than rat or kamikaze roach, but it wasn´t what Reno´d call 'delicious'. It was cold, chewy and tasteless, save for the metallic blood. Reno wondered what it was; the prospect of animals wandering around here, big enough to carry such chunks of flesh, was frightening. What if they decided to pay them a visit while they slept?

Well, the boy was quite perceptive, Reno had to hand it to him. He never went to sleep in his fridge before Reno had dozed off, on principle it seemed. Of course Reno had studied him, and of course, he had tried to escape again on several occasions. He had laid down absolutely still, eased his breathing and shut his eyes. The boy had sat on his rusty bed frame, whipping back and forth as if riding waves on a small boat. Every so often his gaze flickered back to Reno, the redhead observed, peeping through a tiny slit of his closed eyes...

_After a while his new friend tilted his head, climbed down to the floor and sat a few feet away from Reno. Obviously he meant to check if Reno was really sleeping, and the Turk did his best to deliver a convincing show. Since he was a natural, soon enough fridge boy sluggishly crawled back to his rusty, creepy fridge. The door creaked a bit when it was closed._

_Reno waited for a long while, counting to 60 at least a hundred times, then he couldn´t delay any longer, lest he would fall asleep himself. He moved silently , careful as to not disturb even one tiny piece of gravel. He stood up, supporting himself against the wall. He had even taken off his shoes and he carefully tiptoed to the 'door' on socked feet, keeping his breathing in check. When he reached the hole in the wall, he allowed himself a tiny pause, sighing in relief. The worst part was over now, he just had to find the elevator... In his mind Reno had walked the tunnels millions of times, he knew exactly where he had to go. Ready to run into the open, welcoming arms of freedom, he tightened his grip around his shoes, threw one last look over his shoulder- and froze._

_The boy was crouched directly behind him, eyes wide and set in a fixed stare, pipe in hand and so close that Reno should have felt his warm breath rushing past his legs. _

_His heart skipped at least two beats; his shoes tumbled to the ground with an ugly, loud sound. The stirred up dust burnt his lungs but he didn´t dare coughing. The boy kept staring, his face expressionless, but somehow the redhead guessed that his jailer was not amused. At least he hadn´t hit Reno over the head and dragged him back. Yet. Reno licked his chapped lips and took a careful step on the crowded floor, towards the water bowl. The beast let him, but its eyes never strayed from Reno, just kept boring into his skull. As frustrating as it was, the turk had no choice but to drink a few handfuls of bitter water. Then he picked up his shoes and went back to his sleeping place on the ground. The beast remained by his side for a while, pipe clutched in its hand as if to make a point that should Reno try anything funny there´d be no mercy. And eventually Reno fell asleep,albeit grudgingly so..._

He hadn´t given up that easily of course, but every damn time the beast woke up before Reno had even gotten close to the exit and after a while he simply stopped trying. But, the redhead thought, coming back to the present, at least it meant that the boy wouldn´t let wandering monsters surprise him in his sleep. If that applied to Reno as well was another story.

Morosely, he watched fridge boy finish his meal. The highlight of the day was most likely over; next would come a few boring hours of doing nothing, unless fridge boy decided to creep out again. Reno hadn´t forgotten about the incident a few minutes ago, just before getting dinner (he reckoned that it was a few minutes, time was hard to tell down here). Right now he had to admit that he would rather enjoy an uneventful, nice nap instead of being screamed at by his special friend or confronted with any other unpleasant surpri-

Reno´s eyes narrowed, then widened in shock. The usual veil of sleepy resignation vanished, his gaze now sharp and inquisitive.

The beast was licking its fingers, one after another, to savor the taste of dried blood. It was as close to happy as it could get; it wasn´t hungry anymore, not thirsty and besides...

Reno gaped with disbelief. The boy´s free hand, the one that wasn´t slobbered at, slipped down between his legs. It wrapped around a thick erection, that was rather rosy compared to the boy´s dusty and filthy body and started pumping with quick, sharp movements.

"What the.. STOP IT !"

Naturally, Reno wasn´t a prude but there was a difference between overreacting at the mere mention of sexual activity and witnessing some perfect stranger masturbate in front of you, out of nowhere.

Unfazed by its flustered guest, the beast continued. Let loose and applied pressure, pulling, rubbing – whatever felt good, it knew how and when to do it. The beast was aware of three pleasures; the first was quelling hunger and thirst. When it felt so stuffed that it couldn´t move anymore then everything was well. Next, it would indulge in its second familiar pleasure, namely retreating into its fridge. Inside, it was warm and cozy and safe, though the beast didn´t think about it in so many words. It simply felt very good nestling in there. And the third pleasure...well, the beast had never had any physical contacts apart from its own and as a result, it knew its own body quite well. There was no one to hinder it from pleasuring itself in the name of prudish morals or conventions. It enjoyed it whenever and as often as it could. With the arrival of its first companion, its body had been so busy processing the excitement, confusion and stress that it had forgotten about the pleasures. But now it had gotten kind of used to the other.

This didn´t mean that Reno had. He didn´t really fight the strange rules and customs that applied to that underground rathole anymore but they still kept surprising him. He had thought that he was prepared for almost everything by now, but obviously he was wrong. As the boy didn´t stop but just kept masturbating in front of him, the redhead could only turn his head away. He tried to distract himself by watching a mass of roaches crawling over each other in one corner of the room. But he couldn´t tune out the noises, the accelerated breathing, small moans and the slapping sound of pulled cock. It made it impossible to _not_ look!

When his eyes finally betrayed him and flickered back to fridge boy, the show was mostly over anyways. The boy hissed, his head fell forward, face hidden behind dirty hair, and white cream spurted from his erection. The boy swayed a bit, seemingly dizzy, and steadied himself with one hand on the ground. He rubbed his cock lazily a few more times with the other hand, before licking clean his sperm coated fingers with great abandon

Reno just gulped, scratched a patch of itching skin on his neck and then plopped down on the floor for a nap, ignoring his own desires.

Tbc

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**Review replies, yay (^_^):**

Sweetkittens: Hey! Sorry to make you wait so long _ I hope school hasn´t started yet? Anyways, I hope to update more regularly now^^ Thanks for reviewing and I´m happy you liked it^^

Tristripe: Haha, thanks XD Yeah, I´m afraid a lot of what happens down there seems disgusing to us. But really, it just is because we have the luxury of being picky^^ As soon as you have to work for your survival things keep changing I guess... Hm... we´ll have to see what happens. I´m quite curious too, the plotline develops while I write and I have a few posible scenarios though out :)

TheSuperBanana: Yay, thanks, I´m glad you liked it XD Oh dear, you ate an insect? I bet I did too, when I was little but luckily I can´t remember. I saw a documentary once though, where some rainforest people roasted a huge ass spider and ate it and it actually looked quite tasty... Haha, that´s awesome that you managed! I never did, but I had a friend who could scratch her head with her food. You must be very flexible^^

Labe: Thank you so much darling! *huggles* Winter is coming soon and I hope I an update more regularly then XD It´ll be easier to get in the mood, I guess. I have no plans on giving this fic up, no worries. The chapters are of a length that I can manage well to write inbetween studies^^ And aren´t we all creepy on mondays? O_o

Aeriths-Rain: Yay! Thanks for still reading, that makes me very happy ^^ Yesh, the beast becomes more human and Reno becomes more and more beast like, I wonder if they´ll meet somewhere in the middle XD

Soyna: Yeah, Reno got to eat, but he is better off not knowing what it was he ate there. I bet it tasted like chicken though...

Vietta: Yesh I know _ But this time I updated faster, see? XD I haven´t given up on this one, far from it. It just demands a certain mood and that is difficult to get into when the sun is shining and the birds are singing and well... but winter´s coming ;) Hm, I guess Reno chose human steak in the end... I think given the choices I´d have done the same XD

bonjourmeadow: Thank you! I like philosophy too, though for me it sometimes lacks the connection to reality a bit too much. That´s why I prefer social sciences, though those two are very connected^^

Trigger happy Chaingunner: I think so too, It is a really really nice nutjob indeed! Being such a great host and all, even sharing Its food! I´m glad you didn´t lose your appetite XD

smverduzco: (What an interesting pen name, try saying that out loud XD) Hm, I wonder if it is Yaz... or someone else? We got a few clues on it already... And yesh, Reno´s better off not knowing what he ate XD Thanks for reviewing!

.1: Thank you! Yah, I won´t deny that it was really disgusting _ Too bad they have no pizza service down there *sigh* Though in Entertainer countries insects are thought to be something very delicious, actually... hrm. I think the beast will take good care of Reno, or at least it´ll think it does. I wonder if Reno agrees XD

Rina: Yeah, I know! I saw Ju-on2 with my sis (I might have told this story million times now, but to even think about it still creeps me out!). You gotta see it if you get the chance, I have it and could send it to you if you like. We were so scared we had to turn on the light and stop every ten minutes to come down again _ I must admit I have no idea where this is going either. I have a few scenarios thought out, but I guess the story will decide itself where it is going, kind of. I feel for poor Reno too, but slowly he gets to a point where old values don´t matter anymore and where he overcomes pride and disgust for the sole reason of surviving. I think that is really the interesting part. Reno feels humiliated, but no one is there to actually judge him and gradually he will come to abandon his old views. And no worries, I don´t think I will abandon his. Even if I did, I´d definitely finish it ;P

**Thank you so much for all the awesome reviews, that is so encouraging! Now I wonder if we can hit the 100 review mark with this chapter *bites nails***


	13. 13: I feel you

**Muchos thankos to my awesome Natzilla for betaing and to everyone who reviewed because we made it to 104 reviews so far, yay! *(^_^)*  
**

** And here´s the new chapter^^ Enjoy!**

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Chapter 13: I feel you

Reno woke up , moaning, from a strange but pleasant heat spreading in his belly . There were strange noises... Something was pushing and pulling his lower body ever so slightly. Not that it was unpleasant, on the contrary. Intrigued, he cracked open one bleary eye and looked down to his lap. The sight before him dissipated his slumber instantly.

There, kneeling between his spread legs, was fridge boy. Somehow he had managed to free the redhead´s throbbing erection without waking up Reno and it stood now free and flushed as an incredibly fast and teasing pink tongue licked it busily. In addition, every now and again, fridge boy took him in his mouth, suckling Reno´s cock as if it were a popsicle (though Reno doubted greatly that his buddy here knew what a popsicle was, much less had ever tasted anything similar). The boy lowered his mouth over his dick again, his tongue brushing over the sensitive head. Reno groaned at the moist contact and tried to keep his eyes open. A strange mixture of excitement, need and fear tightened his chest; he felt nervous down there, that was undeniable. And the beast just knew how to take care of it even if Reno was almost certain that the boy was rather exploring than actually intending to give him a blowjob. Earlier he had seemed to like the taste of his own semen (an exquisite treat indeed, compared to the taste of rats and roaches) and maybe he just wanted a taste of Reno's. On the other hand, the Turk felt quite manhandled and fridge boy´s sharp teeth worried him a bit. So far they were only lightly scraping over his swollen flesh, making Reno shiver from a pleasure very similar to the scratching of a vicious itch.

"Stop it," Reno protested weakly and grabbed a shock of dirty long hair, intending to push the boy away from him but at that very moment his raw glans bumped against the back of the boy´s throat. He moaned, throwing his head back, and pulled the boy closer instead. His hips had started a rhythm of their own, creating little clouds of dust, as they thrust up from the ground. His feet, sliding on the gravel in search of an elusive foothold, made a sharp, ugly rattling noise. It didn't matter.

Reno drove deeper into the tight, sucking cavern, his pelvis gyrating harder and faster as the boy kept lapping his cock. It really had been a while; his sacks felt too tight and heavy and they wouln't withstand the pressure for too long.

"Oh fuck ohfuck ohFUUUUUCK!"

With a short series of desperate, wild thrusts, Reno came right inside the boy´s nasty little mouth. His eyes shut and his lips parted in a silent hiss as he tightened his grip around the tangled mane His dick exploded into an euphony of bursting sparks and dying planets and the universe stopped breathing for a moment. A few final spasms sent some weak spurts of cum into the boy´s greedy mouth, then Reno let his head fall back and watched lazily as the kid licked him clean, not missing one tiny droplet.

It certainly wasn´t hygienic and far from Reno´s top favorite fantasy coming alive but there was something so genuine and feral in the way the boy had gone down on him that was undeniably arousing. Reno wondered if the kid would let him fuck him; that´d be an interesting change of pace for certain seeing as it was about the only interesting pastime down here.

Lazily the redhead dropped his lids again to doze for just a second, and when he opened them again his head felt too heavy.

His eyelids were glued together by a film of dried yellow goo that chafed his inner lids when he rubbed it away. He felt dizzy, confused and needed a moment to make sense of his surroundings. As he began to remember, his bloodshot eyes automatically darted down to his lap. To his surprise he was fully clothed but a single wet spot stained his crotch.

With a miserable groan Reno stared at the broken ceiling, draping an arm over his forehead. Great. Now he was having wet dreams about some freaky, dirty fridge kid! If that wasn´t the surest sign that he was losing his marbles he didn´t know what was. As if his suit wasn´t stained enough already. It was stinky, stiff with dirt and now on top, it was full of cum.

An exasperated snort filled the thin, sticky air, but no one cared. He rolled over, head resting on one arm and grunted in frustration at the sigh of the empty room. Same as usual.

Dark, dead, boring.

Maybe there were a few new footprints on the dusty ground. That was the extent of the latest news. He wondered how the world up there was faring. Had a new war erupted ? Or a natural catastrophe, extinguishing whole areas? Had there been a new amazing scientific revelation? Was a new movie star born ? It didn´t affect him anymore. The world outside and the existence (Reno refused to call it a 'life') down here were two different dimensions, cut off from each other. Somehow, Reno had managed to fall down from earth and land in hell.

Unlike before, such thoughts didn´t throw him into a fit of self-pity and despair. He had come to accept his fate with stoic resignation. He didn´t even sigh anymore.

And now he was bored again. To top it off, he didn´t even feel like sleeping anymore. He got up and padded over to the fridge, whose door was slightly ajar. It still amazed him that the boy could make himself small enough to fit in there ; the way he was squeezed inside the tiny cubicle looked painfully uncomfortable. Reno assumed that a normal person would require at least three dislocated bones to adopt the position fridge boy had currently taken. But his only company didn´t look like he was hurting or even minding the knee poking into his cheek. On the contrary, the kid´s breathing was even, his eyes closed and he had even found a way to stick his thumb in his mouth. Reno had to admit that it looked cozy compared to the cold bare floor he was sleeping on, where he was constantly attacked by rats and roaches. This was another reason to keep his suit on; it protected him from bites.

"Hey. I´m bored." Reno underpinned his statement by poking the boy´s ribs. Since the kid didn´t allow him to go anywhere, it seemed only fair that he should keep Reno entertained at least. Maybe he could teach the boy some stuff... just _something _to do or he would go crazy. Besides, he was hungry and thirsty too.

In instant riposte, a bare foot shot out and hit him on the chest, tumbling Reno off his crouched posture and down on his ass. Then the beast gave the intruder something that looked like a very annoyed glare and closed the fridge door with a bang.

Reno sighed. Instead of going back to his usual place by the wall, he slumped on the ground right beside the fridge and leaned his head against the rusty metal. In his state, even the knowledge of the proximity of something vaguely human provided some comfort. At least it was enough to make him fall asleep again and this time he didn´t dream.

Tbc

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natzilla: Yay, thanks! Yeah, poor beasti, the fridge is its only friend :( And I suppose it really is like a womb; it´s warm and beasti has stuffed it with soft things~ But luckily he doesn´t know about his miserable life since he doesn´t know anything else XD

Trigger Happy Chaingunner: Haha, yes, very random indeed! But this is what you get when you live with a beast; it doesn´t know about conventions and rules and just does what it feels like XD

Labe: Yeah _ He better not find out... Yay, ´m glad you liked the scene! It was very sudden I think, and there was no smexy atmosphere created at all I admit XD

Soyna: I guess it is! I´d totally stare if someone´d start to masturbate in front of me without any prior warning XD

smverduzco: Haha ´ll take that as a compliment, thanks XD

Gismo1: Woot I am glad you decided to review! *happy dance* Well I suppose there is not much you could do but watch from the outside XD Frankly, I wouldn´t go anywhere near the beast I´d be too wary of its sudden whims and it has pipe! The last chapters were pretty much from Reno´s POV though, so next chapter the beast will be in the spotlight again^^

Crazyfeatherhead: Thank you so much! I got over 100 reviews actually ^_^ Hehe and don´t we all love creepy things from time to time? XD

Vietta: You know, if he had a good solid fire I think even the roaches would be edible if roasted. But raw... *shudders with you* At a certain point it might not matter anymore though, when you´re on the brink of starving. But I really don´t need to experience that first-hand XD

Kokoro Phantomhive: Thank you, I am glad you´re enjoying it so far^^

Aeriths-Rain: Ah yes, the beast is very childlike in many ways I guess! It never learned anything about morals and right and wrong so it just behaves selfish and like a child XD But it´s making progress^^ Thanks for telling me that the fic wasn´t working again! It happens sometimes with ff(dot)net, I had the same problems too already _

Rina: Ah, you´re not the first person I hear this from, that this chapter wasn´t sexy but made you uncomfortable. I guess it is because there was no sexy mood and it was sudden and was forced onto the readers and Reno. But the beast doesn´t care ;) I think we´ll get to that point where they share intimacy eventually... Haha, but yeah Reno better watch his ass XD Love you too! *kisses*

**Review please?**


	14. 14: Uhn

**Happy Holidays! Sorry for the lateness of this chapter, I will try to update more regularly now! That´s my new year´s resolution, tschaka!**

**Thanks to DamonWesker for pointing out a little plot hole I had intended to remedy earlier, but then forgot. I went back to check and indeed I offered no explanation as to why they are able to see 7 levels underground, but after this chapter it should be clear now^^ Thanks!**

**Otherwise I´d to built a shrine to my superawesome Nat-Nat for the betaing *bows and lights incense* **

**Happy new year and enjoy!**

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Chapter 14: Uhn  
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When the beast crawled out of its fridge it was welcomed by the sight of its guest acting strangely. It couldn´t know that Reno had decided to exercise, out of boredom and restlessness, doing stuff like sit ups and squats to stay in shape.

The beast slouched before its fridge, drowsily staring off into nothingness, swaying a bit on its heels. Then it reached over its shoulder, in an impossible angle, to scratch a piece of itchy skin with long, sharp nails.

Reno continued his stubborn training as the beast followed its usual waking up routine ; it went to the 'bathroom' to relieve itself, then it drank some water and ate a few small, hard ones. After all its primary needs were taken care of, the boy crawled back to the fridge room and settled down at a distance from Reno. He followed the redhead´s movements with seemingly languid eyes.

"How ya doin´ sunshine? Slept well?" Reno panted, the flush on his cheeks fortunately hidden underneath the dirt that covered his face. It spared him the embarrassment of being so obviously out of shape.

By now the boy didn't seem fazed by the use of 'sun' anymore. It had become one of the turk´s habits to talk to his captor as the sound of voices – even if it was only his own- was strangely comforting. At least it made Reno feel vaguely human and he had hopes that his attempts to communicate were fruitful. He had noticed at one point that the boy wasn´t as numb and stupid as he appeared; soon enough he had learned what the word 'hungry' meant. Reno had actually conducted his own little experiment: whenever his stomach growled he had slowly and deliberately said the word "Hungry" and the boy had sooner or later brought food. After a few times, Reno had randomly mentioned that he felt 'hungry' and before long the boy had reacted to that as well. The same happened with 'thirsty': whenever they went to the little bowl Reno had emphasized the word before he drank. When he said it now, the boy reacted, getting up and crawling to the bowl, settling down beside it and waiting for Reno to finish drinking.

Reno was amazed.

He would never have thought that simple conditioning really worked that well, but apparently it did. It wasn´t flawless, of course. When his little friend was too distracted hanging from the ceiling or when he was dozing, Reno could insistently repeat 'hungry' or 'thirsty' as much as he wanted, he would get no response. But right now he had fridge boy's attention and he seemed willing to learn too. At least that was what Reno interpreted from his attempts at swaying up and down on his heels. The boy was mirroring his squats.

Or at least he was trying to. But doing squats required the ability to stand on two feet, and that was something Reno´s captor had never learned. Besides, fridge boy didn´t grasp the essence of the concept at all; it wasn´t like he actually understood what Reno was doing or why he was doing it. He simply pushed himself up as far as he could (which wasn´t much higher than his usual, crouched position) and fell back on his heels, his arms swaying back and forth, out of phase. This, combined with his impassive face made him look like a really really bored and unwilling student in sports class.

The beast itself had no idea what it was doing. But its neural capacities had enormously expanded due to the constant stimulation that Reno´s presence provided. And mirroring whatever the other did was the easiest way to make a connection. Besides, it wasn´t like the beast had anything else to do...

Reno suppressed his laughter at the strange sight (though the boy wouldn´t have known what to make of it anyway). It did look disturbing, but Reno had gotten used to it and he had developed a strange sort of humor, down here. If he hadn't observed fridge boy with some kind of amusement, if he had forced himself to face how _impossible _his situation was, he would have gone crazy. Not that he wasn´t already. When his little friend was asleep or busy minding his own business and there was nothing to do Reno started to see things. Dark things crept along the halls and he was relatively certain that they were only a figment of his raw, hysteric imagination, his suppressed fears that he had shoved deep down and that sent him ferocious messages from hell. Still he couldn´t help seeing these shadows, hear their toneless scurrying, their red eyes boring coldly into his head from behind rotten pipes. In any case, to stay sane he had to counteract the creepiness his captor inflicted in him, had to overcome the enormous alienation he felt whenever he lay eyes on the jerking, crawling, dirty boy. Every fiber of his being revolted when he remembered that he was utterly depending on that creature, that he was at the mercy of every of its incomprehensible whims. No, Reno would not think about that. He had accepted his strange relationship with fridge boy, that was woven of frustration, anger and gratitude (when he fed Reno). In all actuality fridge boy was the only recipient for any of Reno´s emotions or thoughts; there just was nothing else. The memories of his past life, up there, were bleached, becoming vague and faint like old photographs. The underground had taken over Reno´s world almost entirely.

"I thought about something, ya know," the redhead continued, his breathing only slightly accelerated. He flopped down, ignoring the gravel sticking into his back, and started to perform some easy sit-ups. "Why it is that we are like some bloody thousand miles beneath the surface and still can see, yo. With no apparent light source an' all." He wasn´t sure, but he thought he heard some tiny purring noise coming from fridge boy.

"Yeah, crazy, right?" Reno gave a light snort as he pressed his upper body against his bent knees, his belly muscles contracting and lifting him up. Belatedly the beast noticed that its guest had moved on to another exercise and stopped abruptly in the middle of a crippled squat, arms hanging like two dead, meaty weights as it tilted its head and expressionlessly watched Reno performing.

"So there´s not many options, but I got the solution because I´m smart, ya know. Not that you would know what smart is, you stinking, retarded travesty of a human." The sweetly spoken words were balm to Reno´s anguished soul. Insulting the boy had become kind of a hobby that helped him coping with the situation. Not that the boy understood. The sad irony of the situation didn´t reach Reno through the thick protective walls he had erected to keep his mind from exploding into raging madness. He had scratched his last bits of sanity together and locked them inside, protecting them with all he had...

The boy blinked lazily and dropped to the ground as if he´d been shot. Keeping his cheek pressed against the dusty surface, he fitted the rest of his thin, naked body into a position that matched Reno´s, never taking his green eyed stare away from the redhead.

"This was a lab, right? They did stuff down here, experiments with mako. No idea what exactly, got no info on that before they sent us down here yo." Reno gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up again, fine sweat building underneath the crust of filth on his skin. "Guess it didn´t go so well."

His blue orbs darted over to fridge boy, who was rolling around raggedly, doing anything but sit ups. He seemed to have fun though because he didn´t stop. Reno sighed inwardly and concentrated back on his theory and his aching stomach.

"Anyways, with the explosion the mako tanks must have been destroyed too. All that shit blew all over the place. But the amount that settled is so little that you don´t really see it, ya know? I mean, things aren´t... glowing or... anything." A drop of sweat ran into Reno´s eye. He hissed and squeezed it shut, but he didn´t stop his motions. "But it´s enough to provide a light source, yo." At the thought of the poisonous substance everywhere around them, on every surface, not to speak of the water and the very air they breathed, the redhead shuddered inside. But he was beyond the point of getting panicky as he was convinced that he inevitably would die down here anyway, sooner or later. Most likely the boy would smash his head in.

On the other hand it was strangely relieving to know that if it became too much there was always the option of 'tripping' in the 'bathroom'. How would it be to fall even deeper into the darkness, to feel the knot of fear in his stomach rise as his body dropped through the air, to fall and fall and know that within seconds he would be nothing but a smear on broken concrete? Reno didn´t know, but he wasn´t keen on finding out either. Not yet anyways.

But the mako also explained the deformed insects and rats (who knew what else crept through the walls that Reno hadn´t met yet) and why fridge boy was so extraordinarily agile and strong. Mako was a powerful energy that would cripple those too weak to take it and enhance those whose bodies were strong enough to transform it. Reno guessed that the boy must be about 14 to 16 years old and if he had been exposed to mako all that time he was some hell of a force to reckon with. Of course that also meant that Reno´s chances of escaping had narrowed down to zero. By now he hadn´t been saved either, which meant that they must have given up their search as too much time had passed. Even though it was hard to tell down here Reno was sure that at least two to four weeks must have gone by.

"And that´s why we can see down here without the sun," he finished in a tone that was usually reserved to annoying little children that bugged him with stupid questions : waspish, coated with a lot of fake sugar and a cherry of strained patience on top.

The boy had stopped rolling around and lay on his side watching Reno, his thin belly and chest moving as he breathed regularly. "...uhn."

Reno stopped in mid-motion, lowered his elbows and threw his captor a strange look. "You just said something, hun?" His forehead folded into a series of wrinkles. He must have misheard.

The beast got up with sluggish, fluid movements, probably attempting to mirror Reno again, and sat as well, its eyes fixated on Reno. Through the thick jungle of incomprehensible sounds, It had picked up something with a meaning. It opened its mouth, languidly clicking its tongue a few times (something it had just learned recently and that felt funny). Then its shining eyes drifted off to the side, as it followed the trail of a roach scurrying through the room.

"...uhn."

"...uhn...?" Reno slowly repeated, surprised. His frown deepened. Could be a random sound his special friend was making. It could also be an attempt to say something; it was always hard to tell, because the boy never made any expression that could have given clues. "What´s 'uhn', yo?"

Since the boy still looked distracted, Reno picked up a little stone and threw it at him. Sometimes that helped. And surely fridge boy flinched, looking back at the redhead.

"Uhn!" he blurted with much more fervor this time and Reno almost felt as if he was being reprimanded by an impatient boss for his incompetence to make any sense of 'uhn!'.

"Look, I´m sorry honeybuns, I have no friggin idea what 'uhn' is!" His dirty hand tore at his even dirtier hair in frustration, but it didn´t really help Reno understand what the beast wanted. On the other hand he was thrilled, his heartbeat quickening remarkably. The blinding light of hope flashed up for just a split second: They were making progress!

Instead of an answer, the beast leaped up swiftly and clung to a surgical headlight post, swinging back and forth a little. "...uhn..." it tried again, but the other was just too stupid to understand. He only produced a string of noises that the beast couldn´t connect together and so it gave up, falling back to the floor on all four and ignoring the redhead.

All the rolling around and trying to get through to the other had exhausted it and so it crept out of the living room and to its pantry, all the while muttering -inaudible to Reno- one word.

"Hungry."

tbc

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**Review replies:**

Aeriths-Rain: Yeah, Reno has to adjust to that new life, whether he likes it or not :( They might look for him but he cannot depend on that anymore; he has to develop a plan B in case no one comes, which seems more and more likely...

Gismo1: Thank you^^ Haha, they must be stinking right now, though Nat-Nat pointed out that all the dust lying around might absorb some of the smell XD And yeah, the beast was not amused and goes for the tactic „... Sollen wir 'Wer kann am längsten still sein?' spielen?" -.-

Soyna: Hm yeah, it wasn´´t really erotic at all, I admit that XD But it served its purpose and it shows what primary needs Reno is dealing with... And doesn´´t it sound like the beginning of a great love story? Imagine the wedding!

Vietta: Hahahahahahaha, you summed it up so nicely XDDDD Thanks XD

Rina: Haha, exactly! It´d be utterly disgusting and degrading but moral standarts have changed down there. Hm, Reno and rats... no probably not much of a story indeed XD And now seriously, wet dreams about rats might be something even I can´t pull out. We´ll see if Reno will find something to wash in soon^^

smverduzco: He is getting desperate indeed:( Or maybe his perception just shifts :)

natzilla: Awwww, no worries! The longer you read something the more you focus on the grammar and all, so you don´t really read what is said anymore, at least that´s what happening to me XD And yes, it was a wet dream. The beast didn´t actually suck Reno off... yet :) You´´re right about the smell, and I also suppose that by now they got used to it anyways^^

Trigger happy Chaingunner: That´s an interesting idea about Reno locking the fridge XD He´d find some little stick (must be inauspicious after all), secretly locks the door and rubs his hands, going insane with joy and just as he turns around to run to freedom the beast blasts the fridge door open and smashes Reno´s skull in... *cough*

underhandlilies: Thank you! Maybe the written words aren´t as scary as movies? XD Or maybe we get a better insight into the protagonists heads... Haha, we´ll have to wait and see what happens, but pretty much everything is possible ;)

DamonWesker: Thank you very much! I must admit that I haven´t read that many Reno stories (no time :( ) but I know that there are a lot of fics out there, so I am blushing a bit right now ;) Ah yes, writing in a second language... sometimes it feels a bit frustrating because I am under the impression that I can never be as good as a native speaker, but then again it doesn´t really matter as long people enjoy my writing, I guess. Also, I get a lot of help from my betas! I am happy that you liked 'Home Sweet Home' as well! Yeah, they seem like a happy family, but underneath things aren´t as peachy... Dark stories make me feel less depressed as well, which is why I write them in the first place. I suppose it is some kind of catharsis. I will definitely finish this story and I hope to update much faster, but the story also needs time to develop in my head, which is why it takes so long *sigh* (It very well could have been Kadaj ;)) And thanks again for pointing out the thing with the light; totally forgot to explain that! It´s fixed now :)

Chance969: Yesh XD A dark fic... I luff 'em too 3! I hope you like where this is going ^^

**Review please? That´d be awesome :D**


	15. 15: Surrender

15: Surrender

"R. A. T."

Reno spoke slowly, rolling every letter over his tongue. For emphasis he pointed the little stick he had found somewhere earlier at the dusty ground. He had drawn a few ragged lines and a circle that vaguely resembled a rat. Admittedly Reno wasn´t an exceptionally gifted artist, but he had no intention of becoming a second DaVinci; he only wanted to teach fridge boy a few words.

Again Reno poked his dust rat with the stick, almost strictly, and repeated. "Rat. Now you say it."

The beast just stared vacantly and slowly started to chew on the half eaten rat that Reno had originally caught for teaching purposes but much to his dismay (and fridge boy´s delight) it didn´t quite serve its purpose right now. Reno could have insisted on the boy not eating it but that might have earned him an unpleasant date with Rusty the Pipe. Despite their communication progress, his captor still used violence if he had to... Though mostly they had found other ways. Like when Reno had caught the rat earlier with little effort (he did learn from his special friend too) and carefully arranged it on the ground, the boy had greedily grabbed it to stuff it in his mouth. Of course Reno had protested (no words were needed to express discontent), but fridge boy had held the rat protectively to his naked chest, and hissed "Hungry!". The redhead liked to think that he had detected something somewhat challenging and stubborn in the beast´s unchanging, blank expression and had given up with a sigh. He had found a stick and put his non-existent drawing skills to use instead.

"Rat," Reno repeated patiently, pointing at the floor and then at the boy´s hand that was busy squishing what was left of the rat´s bloody corpse. It didn´t disgust the redhead anymore; he had actually discovered that rat meat was quite tasty. Their flesh was sweetish and soft, though Reno insisted on peeling off their fur and taking out the guts first as well as severing the head and tail before eating. The beast didn´t seem to mind his strange 'antics', but usually it would gather the remains of Reno´s meal and devour them also. Now, after a satisfying meal, they were in their living room for another lesson. Reno sat in his usual spot, leaning against the concrete wall, next to a pile of tiles. Every now and again he chased a cocky roach trampling all over his masterpiece with its too many legs. Fridge boy sat on his skeleton bed, swaying ever so slightly but still seeming pretty concentrated on the task at hand. Despite the fact that he wasn´t able to voice complex facts and situations Reno could tell that he was learning and that he had fun doing so. Why else would he bother listening? Why else would he readily crawl onto the rusty bed, tilting his head and waiting for Reno to join him?

"Rrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat."

The beast stopped chewing and looked at the ground where the stick was pointing. It had no idea what Reno was trying to achieve here, pointing at different stuff and repeating the same sound over and over again. It didn´t make any sense and by now the beast had come to appreciate some good old logic. Reno had taught him; sounds were connected to things ('wa-ter', 'pipe') or conditions ('hungry', 'thirsty', 'pee', though the last one could get easily confused with 'pipe, as it sounded almost the same and had led to the one or other misunderstanding already). By patiently repeating the same sounds again and again while in a given situation or while pointing at objects, Reno had taught the beast that things were connected to sounds and the beast had learnt to recognize when it was being taught, and how it was being taught; that made it easier to remember new things. But now Reno was being confusing since he pointed at several things while repeating the same sound. The beast wasn´t yet able to make the transition from something abstract as a drawing to the real deal, so it just kept staring with dull eyes as its concentration waned.

At last, Reno sighed morosely and raked a hand through his matted hair . "Okay fine then, but this rat is mine, you hear me? No eating teaching material, yo." In the blink of an eye his fist crushed down on a rat that had gotten within his range. The deformed animal twitched a few times, its sticky blood coating the floor and mingling with dirt. A bit of it splattered on Reno´s drawing but they wouldn´t need it anymore anyway.

"All right, now liste- no! That´s mine, sit back!" Reno withdrew his precious from the beast´s fast, hoggish claws and scowled at the boy, unyielding.

"Hung-" came the protesting reply but Reno wouldn´t have it, strictly cutting his student off.

"You still have half of your rat, yo. We´ll get this over with first and then we´ll see. Only good boys get dead rats."

The beast shut up, not understanding why its demands had been rejected (it seemed that voicing desires didn´t always lead to their satisfaction, which was frustrating). It wouldn´t have minded the rat but on the other hand it wasn´t really hungry, it just followed the usual script. Apparently that wasn´t what was required. After a few more repetitions of the sound 'rat' and insistent pointing at the furry, broken corpse it slowly dawned on the beast and eventually they had another break through.

"..Ad." It slowly repeated, twisting its tongue, tasting the sound of it. Even to its own ears it didn´t seem right, but after a few more repetitions Reno was fairly satisfied. Fridge boy´s 'r' was half swallowed still, but his 't' had become stronger and the 'a' was clear and audible. The redhead´s throat felt like sandpaper from all the 'rrrr's he had forced up, but he hoped it was worth the effort, . Besides, the boy´s voice had become smoother in general, turning from raw and strained to deep and stronger, which probably stemmed from all their practice.

"That´s a good boy." He let the dead rat dangle in front of his companion, amusing himself with the boy´s eyes following the thing like a pendulum. Then he sighed and threw it up in the air where the beast caught it effortlessly with its open mouth, the leftovers of its other rat still in its hands.

While fridge boy gnawed at the rodent´s innards Reno shifted position and stretched out his legs, then scratched himself shamelessly wherever it felt good. There was a place near his groin that itched especially and under normal circumstances he would have ignored it. But down here no one cared, down here he had the leisure to ignore good manners. Well, mostly.

"That tastes good, eh?" Reno smirked as he watched slimy organs dripping on the beast´s dirty, bare foot. "Rat´s the best when it´s still warm. Just eat it all up... Good boy." Reno felt very much like the owner of a dog he taught small tricks for the hell of it. A very dangerous dog that could rip open his throat at any moment... but since they had started their lessons, fridge boy didn't seem as unpredictable and erratic anymore and therefore he also seemed less , it was strange to see his roommate speak. He very much looked like a wild animal, what with how the dirt and mud hid any human features, and the way he moved. The words fridge boy uttered sounded random at most, even though they had a purpose, an intention. Reno had a hard time taking it seriously. But it didn´t matter; fridge boy was a beast, Reno was human and they would meet halfway. If they survived long enough that was.

The former turk inclined his head lazily and kept on scratching himself while fridge boy licked the rest of the rat from his fingers and toes.

"You know, now that we have become such good buddies and all, we should go on a first name basis," he suddenly pondered, dipping his pinky into his ear and cleaning it with a few circular motions. "You got a name? I kinda doubt it, but I thought I´d rather ask, don´t want to come across as impolite or anything."

"rAt," the boy mumbled, leaning his cheek against his knees. His lids dropped halfway but underneath his jade gaze still rested on Reno. It was used to the other making meaningless noises after their lessons but it didn´t mind. Actually it found the sounds comforting now and it would wallow in them, swaying to its music as if it was a lullaby sung for it's ears only.

"Yeah well no. I know that´s a nice word and all, and you kinda resemble those yukky fleabags, but it´s not your name, sorry sugar." Reno decided. He was well aware that this creature had no name. Even if it had been given one long ago (and for some reason Reno highly doubted that any scientist of ShinRa would bother) no one was left to remember it. "Ah, what the hell, you don´t need a name. It´s not like you´d understand it anyways. You just gotta know who I am, that´s easier." The redhead shifted, pointing a finger at himself. "I´m Reno. Rrrrrreeeenooo. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He gave a mock half bow to emphasize his sarcastic statement. Well, maybe not that sarcastic. It could have been worse. Maybe. Life down here wasn´t all that bad, once he had come to terms with it.

"Reno," he repeated again, slowly. Funny that he hadn´t thought of teaching his roommate his name earlier. Wasn´t that the most important thing? To introduce oneself ? To make the only other person aware of oneself ? To present one´s personality and individuality? But other things had been more pressing. First came survival, the rest was just fancy decadence and ego stroking.

But at least Reno had an ego. He wasn´t so sure about fridge boy.

As if to underpin Reno´s thoughts, the beast looked up, slowly curling its fingers into a loose fist save for a crooked index finger. It brought its muddy little hand up, just as Reno had and pointed at itself. "rEnO." Vocals were much easier to say.

Maybe it was the small, somewhat helpless gesture, the quiet cluelessness about it that touched Reno deeper than anything ever had. For a moment he felt desperate; he felt that it wasn´t right, that his earlier words had been cruel and that he regretted them and he mourned the fact that he could not share his identity and that it was so utterly sad that his companion was a nothing. But he could help the boy shape one of his own, couldn´t he? The fact alone that they had met, that Reno had seen him and knew about his existence had brought him to life, hadn´t it? Fridge boy would not die alone now, he had been known.

"No," he answered softly and on impulse he grabbed the boy´s finger and bent it carefully to point it at himself. "Reno. I am Reno. You cannot be me."

The beast stared at Reno´s fingers wrapped around its own and abruptly withdrew it, as if it had been burnt. It hadn´t been touched before by someone else. Ever.

Reno stared back and reluctantly withdrew his hand, letting it sink down in his lap. He didn´t want to let go. He wanted to touch. Up until this very moment he had not realized how much he missed the warmth of another body. It wasn´t even a sexual thing; it was the simple craving for another warm being. For being held and comforted, for being reassured that he wasn´t all alone down here even if he was. Reno was deprived of everything, save for his basic needs.

No, that wasn´t true.

His most basic need was...

He couldn´t even say. Just that this unexpected touch had unlocked something inside him, a swirling storm that was caged in his chest and wanted to be let out.

But he didn´t let it.

The boy clearly had not appreciated the sudden proximity. And Reno could not afford to scare him away, he depended on him and not just in a practical way. It was not only about food or water or a walk to the john. It was about having a companion, as mute and emotionally deprived as he may be. Reno needed him here or he would be all alone and that thought was too frightening and paralyzing. He couldn´t lose fridge boy, under no circumstances.

"Reno," he repeated, blinking his eyes "I will find you a name."

tbc

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BioSerpens: Thank you XD Personally I am a bit anal about plotholes (and sometimes I even take it too far with the details and whatnot), but this was an essential part I had forgotten about _ Glad you liked it anyways!

Rina: Yes, and beastie is getting pretty good at talking too! I think mentally he is still a boy, and he does whatever he wants without caring what others might think (since there is no one else there but Reno). I don't think Reno will kill himself, he was just depressed, and I think the possibility that he could kill himelf reassured him that he didnt really want to die.

A Darker Shade: Thank you! I am glad you enjoying it, writing this story is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me XD

Soyna: Haha, I just imagined Reno in a super market with his cart and beast boy sitting in it in all his nekkid, dirty glory, pointing exciedly at food XD And yeah, they both need a bath desperately _

BoomChick: I do hope that the beast is inelligent enough to just not randomly copy everything Reno says, that would be quite annoying I think XD

YamiCarol: Haha, it seemed that not many noticed the absence of lights, even I forgot XD Hm, I end to forget german words in daily life and then I struggle because only the english one comes to mind, it's crazy XD What is your mother tongue?

Underhandlilies: Cool! I think it is the only way to teach someone new words, by repeating them over and over again... that's how I learned english too XD And Reno is pretty okay now, not the happiest guy in the world but he came to terms with his situation, I guess^^

Aeriths-Rain: Thanks, yes he spoke! Progress! XD

DamonWesker: I am glad you found the explanation plausible, it was long overdue. Thanks for reminding me^^ The boy's fixation with the word sun will be explained eventually, but it was also a device for me that I could use to make a connection between Reno and the boy. Otherwise there would have been nothing they had in common and the boy simply would have killed Reno, because he would have had no reason to keep him alive... In all actuality I am not sure if they will get rescued *cough* But we'll see :)

natzilla:Aw, I am glad you enjoy the story, you don't have to find it creepy ;) And of course beasty has to stay in shape for all the sexy rat ladies! He wants to impress them. I suppose both of them can be asses, I mean it is not nice of Beasty to swing his pipe at Reno either ;P

chance969: Too bad the boy cant appreciate Reno's morning greetings XD I wonder who is threatening who... but I emember that we had to use a few harsher methods with our dog too when he was little, oherwise he'd still steal food from the breakfast table, haha. I will keep the darkness coming then, it makes me happy too XDD


	16. 16: Wonderful life

**Hello~ First off, I got something for you, namely a fantastically cute (yes, you read right ;P) fanart drawn by the amazing FunkySockzlover**

**http:/funkysockzlover(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Belly-of-the-Beast-195530226**

**Thank you so much dear! A giant 'Thank you' goes out to my bestest Nat-Nat for the aWeSoMe betaing too!**

**Now... enjoy (… I guess) **

* * *

16 Wonderful life

They had started to take little strolls. The beast allowed it for a reason it could not phantom, but it didn´t ponder over it either. It felt right and didn't cause any harm. A special connection was forming between them that could have been labeled as 'sympathy'. It was only one single string in a tightly wrapped rope that bound them together now, but it was an important, strong part. The other strings woven into said bond were routine, practicality, dependance to a degree, curiosity, boredom... but those were not strong enough to support their connection in the long run. No, the beast was at ease with the other and Reno´s attempts to escape had ceased completely. He didn´t try to go anywhere without the beast following on his tail. And thus the beast didn´t deter him from leaving their primary premises. It didn´t mean that it had let its guard down ; it still diligently carried its pipe around but more so for practical reasons. The pipe would make things easy in case Reno went somewhere the beast didn´t want him to go. It could always just hit the other and drag him back, or swing the pipe and make Reno understand that it wanted something. Unfortunately for Reno, it had only a rudimental concept of pain and even less empathy.

Reno, on the other hand, enjoyed exploring their surroundings. Granted, there was not much to explore really, and he didn't follow a purpose. He didn't search for answers anymore because he had no questions. There were no explanations to find, no fateful mystery to unravel and find the reason why he had ended up here or what had happened to this place. It didn't matter and wouldn't have changed anything about his situation so he just took it for granted and walked and watched and processed the few impressions he got from his environment.

There had been the one or other surprise.

For example when he had followed an exceptionally bad smell that threatened to etch off the fine hairs in his nose. In a dark tiled room, not far from their premises, he had stumbled upon a heap of mushy, worm-infested corpses in faintly recognizable uniforms. The name tags had been so dirty that Reno couldn't read them. But the letters would barely have made sense anymore; they were a relict of a forgotten world that no longer held any meaning and that didn't manage to penetrate his dusty mind anymore. The old Reno had faded away along with the late construction workers.

When he saw the dead, rotten bodies of the species he had formerly belonged to, he listlessly threw up in a corner. The beast came closer, curious, pipe scratching loudly over the floor. Reno just waved fridgeboy away with a tired gesture to keep it from licking off his puke. There was no grief for the murdered construction workers in his heart nor terror for their unfortunate fates. There were no morals down here. Eat or die, that was the thin rope that held their bony bodies together and pulled them forward through life and there was no escape so Reno had stopped fighting.

"Where shall we go today?" It sounded more like 'Whea sha we go to'ay?'. Reno's speech had become fuzzy.

The beast tilted its head, just waiting. Reno shrugged and with a sigh started to wander down the long corridor that led from their living room and into the endless maze of more corridors and abandoned rooms. He was in a fairly good mood and dragged his feet almost cheerfully through the shallow pools of rusty water that built everywhere. The beast followed, watching him with seeming indifference, but every now and again it would push its paws over the disturbed water's surface to produce its own little shower of exploding droplets . The purpose eluded it, but it didn't need such petty things as reason anyway. Things simply happened.

Unsurprisingly there came no answer to Reno's question.

"I think we should go this way, looks promising." The statement was only marginally infused with sarcasm. Reno wanted to walk down a tunnel that was barely accessible with all the rubbish piling up inside but he was kept from entering it by a sharp sound.

"rEnO!" The beast sat in a puddle, clicking its pipe against the spotty concrete of the floor.

"What's up stinky?" Reno stopped, his hand on his hip. His suit hung from him in rags. He only continued to wear it because it kept him warm and protected his skin a bit. His feet and hands and mind had become callused, the rest of him not so much. From somewhere down the hallways a dull sound of something crumbling echoed.

The beast blinked.

Then it turned its head to the opposite direction of the crossroad and crawled towards it. Reno sighed and followed.

For an indefinite time they wandered the orderly constructed guts of the old ShinRa labs. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. After they had hunted a meal, they sat down in a broken room that served no purpose now but housing them. Reno took a nap while the beast just stared blankly at a wall, making little purring noises. It lulled Reno into a dreamless daze where the darkness embraced him with warm, neutral arms and released him willingly when he was done snuggling.

He got up feeling refreshed. He flashed his white teeth to the room in a hearty yawn and flicked his fingers to get his companion's attention. It had become a common mean of communication between them.

"Let's go back, yo."

"bACKK," fridge boy agreed. It crushed its pipe against the tiles for absolutely no reason at all and started to lazily crawl back into the dark hallways.

Wasn't he just adorable. Reno thought so.

The redhead followed, sighing and rubbing his smudged face to get the sleep out of his eyes. On a profound level he felt completely contented; he was sated, relaxed and had absolutely nothing to worry about or to take care of. Reno was as free and happy as a Christmas Goose on the 23rd of December.

As they went back he even hummed a little improvised tune that reverberated on his tongue. A sidelong glance into one of the halls that flanked their corridor stopped his steps abruptly and the tune died in his throat

The dusty hall was decorated with the usual broken tiles and rusty pipes, but what had gotten his attention was the extraordinary sight of the large pool that occupied over three quarter of the place. It was half filled with green, slightly dirty water that drew soft glowing patterns on the walls and the ceiling.

Reno stared and stared, his mouth agape, almost forgetting to breathe. Before he knew it his feet had moved on their own, dragging him towards the pool. Slick dark algae clung to the basin and a thin, torn carpet of dirt swashed in rhythm with the water. Reno stopped at the rim and stared down at the pool, forcing his lazy brain to do some mathematics. It was deep, bottomless. The basin was not filled to the rim but still reached up to the 16,4 feet or 5 meters mark, on one side. The numbers were barely decipherable and Reno had to narrow his eyes, needing a few seconds to connect the symbols to his dormant knowledge of numbers. They looked foreign to him now.

Still, as he crouched down and lowered his hand, he noticed he could easily reach the water. It was shockingly cold against his fingertips and wonderfully wet. His urge to just plunge into it was almost overwhelming, but this time he kept it in check. Cautiously, he grabbed a broken tile from the ground and threw it in the water where it sank down with a splash. This pool had had a purpose once and who knew what it had housed, what still might be swimming down there, waiting for food.

Several minutes passed and nothing happened. No monstrosity snapped at him from the bottom and Reno's breath hitched in excitement.

He had found water!

The beast sat reluctantly by the doorway, restlessly tapping its pipe to get the other's attention, but to no avail. Something was stirring inside it that it could not identify as a feeling of 'aversion'. It didn't want Reno near the pool and it wanted to leave. Reno however was absorbed in his finding and had already stuck his arms into the water, splashing his face and upper body with the refreshing liquid.

"rEnO!" The beast put more force behind its sounds, making them louder. The pipe was clashing relentlessly against the porous surface; the tiles cracked and splintered into fine gossamer streaks.

That at least got the redhead's attention and he turned his head. The beast stopped and there was a moment of silence before Reno spoke encouragingly.

"Come here! Look what I found, yo!" He tried to splash some water at fridge boy but the other remained unimpressed.

"bacKK," it insisted.

"Aw, come on now, don't be a party pooper! You will like it yo, you won't have to stink anymore." Reno's voice turned down to a soothing, melodious purr, trying to convince his companion. "It's okay. It's FUN!"

The beast stiffened and tilted its head.

"Yes, fun, come here, I promise it will be good, yo. You could seriously use a bath." Reno had taken off his shirt and the remains of his jacket, carelessly casting them aside. His bare chest was dripping with water, sporting small white blotches where the water had soaked through the crust of filth like acid through iron.

The beast took a few reluctant steps towards the pool, its gaze drifting from the dark water to Reno who was busy washing himself.

Fun...

Again the redhead turned, now slightly impatient. "Come ooon, scaredy-cat," he teased. Not that it was a convincing provocation that would have compelled the boy to prove him wrong. Reno held out his hand, an encouraging smile playing on his lips.

"Trust me."

The beast seemingly studied his expression and eventually it crawled closer. It sat down near Reno, fidgeting, its eyes darting back and forth between the water and the other.

So as not to scare the boy off, Reno slowly lowered his crooked palm into the pool and then splashed him gently with the little water he had gathered. Again, his dirty companion flinched and leaped away, staring at Reno almost suspiciously. The redhead just sighed and repeated the motion on himself.

"See? Nothing to be scared of. Now come here so I can clean you up, believe me you _really_ need it, yo." He hadn't been so eloquent since... well, probably quite some time ago.

The beast fought a fierce mental battle. It had conflicting urges, which was a rare occurrence; on the one hand it wanted to leave, badly. On the other hand it wanted to stay, it wanted to do what rEnO did, because doing things together with rEnO was like eating and sleeping. Satisfying. Such conflicts had occurred before, once or twice, but naturally the beast had followed its own instincts, ignoring rEnO's antics and the unknown and potentially dangerous. There had never been a reason for the beast not to follow its instincts; if something felt suspicious it naturally avoided it and rEnO was only second priority when it came to survival. The beast did not take risks, it did not even _know_ the concept of 'risk' because, unlike humans, it did not make conscious decisions.

But now...

But now it wanted to. It wanted to do what rEnO did, wanted to know what rEno knew. The wish to achieve that was greater than its instincts and safety. So the beast took a chance for the first time, ignoring everything else but rEnO and what he was doing, leaving it to rEnO to decide on their actions and judge whether this was to their harm or joy.

Thus trust was born.

"That's a good boy, yes, come here." Reno smiled widely, rubbing his arms with water, his eyes gleaming with a light the beast hadn't seen before. As the boy settled back next to him Reno gathered water in a bowl he made with his hands and let it gently drip onto the boy's back. This was another new experience for the beast but again it resisted the urge to bolt and sat stock still instead.

"Good boy."

The beast tilted its head, gradually relaxing. It enjoyed rEnO making noises that it understood and could connect to things. 'Good boy' meant that it would get rAts that rEnO would hunt for it.

"Now look how dirty you are... Stay still, just like that." The voice had gotten down to a low murmur and the beast's lids dropped a bit. The anxious feeling roaming in its belly quieted down.

"Too bad we don't have any soap or shampoo." he continued, getting a bit closer, but this time the beast didn't really mind. It contently started to purr clipped little "rAt" noises.

"Yeah yeah, rat's for later. Maybe. You know what I was actually thinking when I saw this pool?"

The beast started to sway a bit back and forth on its heels as was its wont when it felt completely at ease. Another salve of droplets trickled down its prominent, sharp spine, tingling pleasantly.

"I though to myself: 'Reno, if there is one thing for sure in this damn hellhole, it's that your little stinky friend can't swim'."

And then the beast's world abruptly turned upside down as ten boney fingers collided with its white back and pushed it over the edge.

Tbc?

* * *

**AN: It is up to you, dear readers, to decide how this fic will continue. There are two options: either Reno saves fridge boy or he doesn't. Both options have their special, secret outcome which I will not reveal here yet. You will have to see when I post... Regardless of which version comes out as the 'winner' I will inform you what the alternative course of the story would have been.  
**

**Review replies (my favorite part):**

underhandlilies: Well, fridge boy knows a few words at least XD Reno did discover what he ate eventually, but as you said it didn't faze him much... Got a bit jaded down there ;)

A Darker Shade: Thank you! I am surprised that people don't get bored with only these two characters in that really boring, uneventful surroundings, to tell the truth. Nothing much happens, actually, action wise. Only character development... which is kind of funny, because Reno is degrading and the boy has not much character to develop :) I am very happy that you like the story so far and that you gave me such detailed feedback!

Rina: Yes, there is something! At least there is some change. Reno needs luff indeed, poor thing is starving for some affection! Haha, yes that damn song, as soon as you mentioned it it got stuck in my head too -.- I am not sure that he got NO pubic lice XDDD I bet he does *shudders* But they got their bath now. Happy? ;)

Aabalany: Wow, thank you! I am so happy that this is your favorite story! I think Reno is a special character; most other people would have despaired already and thrown themselves down the 'toilet'. But Reno is a survivor; he takes what he gets. I wonder about your theory, but think it is pretty plausible. I can see the beast trying to protect Reno and keep him close. Sorry that the chapter took so long ORZ I was pretty busy and admittedly this story is not very easy to write, I usually end up with a headache because communicating what is going on in my end is much more difficult than I thought it would be... But I will keep trying, so bear with me please XD

omgitskirby: Thank you, I am glad you like it^^ Sorry for the late update, I try to be more diligent from now on!

DamonWesker: Yes, fridge boy knows a few words now! It is enough for some communication that doesn't involve hitting Reno over the head, hehe. I am trying to imagine exactly that, as realistic as it can get (though I don't believe a real child would survive this scenario I thought up). The boy must be genetically enhanced in some way (be it because of mako or some experiments). Though humans are amazing, maybe a few of us would survive these conditions; we have no way to confirm that though... Hm, Reno has an opportunity trying to leave now. What do you think, should he? (And thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, so interesting! Its challenging, I love it!)

Rin-chan the love monkey: Thank you! All 15 chapters in one night? Wow XD But then again they aren't that long... (at least not as long as I want them to be). I am glad you think Reno is in character; I try to keep him that way, which isn't easy given the circumstances. They are so extreme...

Jennypen: Thank you! I am glad I didn't scare you away with all the ugly, icky stuff XD And I am sorry that you had to wait almost two months, I promise to do better! Ah, the baby experiments... I remember being more fascinated than shocked when I read about them for the first time. Thinking of it now it was really cruel, but I suspect that none of the scientists expected such a crass outcome. Haha, Mowgli! What a great idea! Fridge boy does seem a bit wild and he certainly is more of an animal than a human judging by his mental state XD But he hasn't been raised by anyone, not even rats. I think at the beginning, before he met Reno he wasn't even an animal; he was just a breathing, eating, pooping thing. Ah, I think the reason Reno doesn't wash himself is because there is no one who cares. Hygiene is a constructed norm and there is no one left to uphold it or sanction Reno for being dirty. He just got used to it (I think that children wouldn't wash themselves if they didn't have to; being clean is no 'natural' need such as eating, but just something we learn and thus we can de-learn it too?). Thanks again for your input, it kept me thinking!

Kokoro Phantomhive: He probably does! Any ideas?

IA1979: Oooh, a full time mom! How is it like? I am happy you still enjoy reading this story! No worries about long reviews, I am just glad to hear from you 3

Aeriths-Rain: Yay, I am glad you liked it! No worries about late reviews, I am late with updating too :( I suppose Reno has no illusions about their situation any more. He is happy with what he gets, but he is realistic, which is the only reason why he is still alive, I guess XD

**So, shall Reno walk away and let fridge boy drown or rescue him?**


	17. 17 Equally destructive

**Before we start I bring beautiful, cute fanart from the amazingly talented funkysockzlover!**

**No one really knows what's going on in Fridge Boys head, so she drew it for us:**

**http:/funkysockzlover(dot)deviantart(dot)com/gallery/#/d3gsqyt**

**As to the voting: tough call, boys and girls! I won't spoil it for you, just read the chapter. Alternative ending will be in the AN at the end. Many many thanks to the superawesome natzilla for bestowing her beta skillz onto that story~**

* * *

17: Equally destructive

Reno watched fridge boy drop into the pool in slow motion. His hands were still, fingers outstretched, the feeling of the boy's velvety skin still tingling on his fingertips. A deafening ringing shrilled in the redhead's ears, drowning every other sound. During his painfully slow fall the boy turned, probably in a desperate attempt to get a grip of what was going on.

Reno wished he hadn't.

This was probably the closest his dirty friend got to sporting an expression of terror and surprise: wide eyes with paper thin slitted pupils, staring widely at him out of a dark, dirty face.

And then everything went fast forward and fridge boy landed in the water with a loud splash. The water loomed above him and swallowed his skinny figure hungrily.

Reno sucked in the stale air and fell back on his ass.

He was free.

He was free.

HE WAS FREE!

It took his lethargic brain far too long to realize the consequences of his action ; during the execution Reno had observed with apathy and derision that tiny part in him that was still willing to fight, that clung to an impossible hope. But now his _ennui _was blasted away as if a fresh wind had chased the rotten stench of resignation off his dead mind.

He was free and finally a new path was opening up, a path that wouldn't mockingly keep him hostage in a maze of creepy, moldy corridors, dust and anarchy but lead him upstairs. A path back to his old life!

_That he could barely remember._

His overwhelming excitement ended abruptly as a sudden fear gripped him in the gut. He tried to conjure up the blurred faces of his comrades but he could not make out their features. Even more worrying was – despite the fact that he was worried at all, an emotion he had almost forgotten- the thought of being pressed back into conventions and rules. Reno had never been good at following orders and in his opinion rules were made to be broken. But this here was on a totally different level; he wasn't even human anymore! The most profane things seemed challenging to him now, downright frightening.

"Oh fuck, c'mon bitch! You are free, now get the hell outta here, yo!"

Clenched fist, gritted teeth, Reno tried to fight his anxiety. He sobbed angrily, trying to will his racing heart to calm down and his legs to stop trembling. Cold sweat ran from his forehead.

This was so fucking ridiculous. Finally, finally after god knew how long he had the opportunity to run!

But what would become of him, if fridge boy wasn't there anymore?

His thoughts kept racing down that road and there was nothing Reno could do about it, even though he fought it with claws and teeth because it was stupid! The only logical, rational, SANE thing to do was to race to the elevator with the speed of light, crawl up the shaft and return to civilization!

But his mind must have suffered for too long down here, because it sickly and weakly kept asking what exactly Reno hoped to find up there. It planted a seed of doubt as it viciously whispered to him that he would be an outcast, that he could barely even remember what it was like up there!

All of a sudden Reno was hit by the uncomfortable realization of how important that bony, stinky creature was to him ; how essential to his life.

No one had seen him more vulnerable, no one had accepted him so thoroughly when Reno had been stripped off of everything; his pride, his morals, education, his _humanity_. Here he was completely bare, without different roles to play, without pretense because there was just no sense in feigning. There was no one to impress and the boy didn't give a shit if he ran around half naked with a half eaten rat between his teeth, just as long as he was alive and there. They were soul mates, they were linked together by a bond stronger than he ever had shared with anyone.

Only fridge boy knew who he really was. And if fridge boy was gone, that part of him would have to die too, because no one above would accept that part of Reno, that core of who Reno was, stripped of all its artificial layers. His mirror would be gone and he would be all alone, lost inside himself with no way to connect with anyone ever again. Had anyone ever really cared for him anyways?

They didn't even know him.

And they hadn't fed him, hadn't accepted him like that! Where were they anyway? No one had come to his rescue, he had been abandoned by his so called friends and colleagues. He had trusted them to take care of him, to save him and here he was.

But who was Reno to throw the first stone?

He had abandoned his only true friend.

"Fuck, fuck!" He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his fists against his temples, trying to silence that damn vicious voice whispering to him . He wanted to kill it, he wanted it out, he didn't want to listen, he didn't want it to affect him, and yet it did. It chilled him from the tip of his toes to the roots of his hairs, it had managed to freeze him to inertia. He wanted to fight it, he wanted to go, but he was afraid and he was feeling guilty. It was exasperating and so very very unfair, but it was there and it was driving him mad.

He scrambled to his feet and crawled to the edge of the pool. The beast was still alive, trashing and fighting to stay above water.

"I fucking hate you!" He screamed hoarsely, tearing at his hair. Then he let his hands drop down on the ground, breathing heavily. His palms dug into the sharp edges of a broken tile, but he didn't notice. His facial expression changed minutely from fury to helplessness and finally fear. "Stop doing that! Just drown already, you damn freak, I don't care!"

But fridge boy wouldn't listen.

And Reno _did_ care. He did care for that stinky, abusive cannibal that held him hostage in a hole seven floors beneath the ground. No scale could have measured Reno's self-loathing at that moment, still it was nothing compared to the irrational fear he felt at the thought of being here all by himself, all alone, because what if there was no way out? And what would people think of him if he came back, when he told them what he had done, what he had lived like, down here? They wouldn't understand, no one could. They would judge him, they would look at him in pity and they wouldn't understand a damn thing. He would be living amongst a crowd of six billion people that he could not trust anymore because they all wore masks crafted from decades of socialization and he had lost his. Reno would see them now as they really were under all that politeness and culture and civilization, but they would not.

In the land of the blind, he would be the one-eyed king.

And he would be all alone, because he had killed the only other seeing man.

The sudden panic was overwhelming and Reno wanted to just give up, shelter himself from the force of his horror and just... stay where it was comfortable. Sadly, the irony of his decision escaped him; whether he stayed here because he was afraid of facing the terror of going back upstairs or whether he would leave the beast behind and flee back to civilization...

He would be running either away.

"Oh save me the damn drama, yo! You hear me? Just swim, okay? Move your arms like... like this." He made a few uncertain gestures with his arms, but the boy didn't change his motions except that they became weaker.

"No, you gotta swim, dammit! Come on! SWIM! You can do it, its not that hard! I... I will give you rat, okay?"

It was pathetic. He had bounced to his feet and was running up and down the length of the pool, shouting useless instructions that the boy would never understand, even if he had been in the condition to listen.

Which he wasn't.

Fridge boy was fighting for his life, trying to keep afloat as the water dragged him down. But he was becoming weaker and weaker. Through the splashing, Reno thought that he could hear him make noises, but he wasn't sure. He didn't want to know.

"Come on come on come on," he chanted, breathlessly, racking a hand through his hair. Fridge boy couldn't die, not now after Reno had had his epiphany, not after he finally had understood that they were meant to be together. He hated that, so thoroughly. But he couldn't leave either.

"I won't leave, okay? You satisfied now? You got what you want, so you can spare me the theatrics and just... just move your arms so and..."

It was futile.

The beast had fought surprisingly long and hard but eventually he reached his limit. He gave a few more, weak thrusts and then he was gone.

"Shit."

A few bubbles crawled to the surface and died in a light explosion. Then there was an even bigger crash as Reno's body plunged into the pool. The water was ice cold and stole his breath away. His heart stopped and every muscles in his body spasmed and stiffened with shock. The freezing liquid invaded his nose and ears and clung with prickling nails to every inch of his skin.

Reno shook it off by pure will power and started to fish in the murky water. He couldn't see anything, hear anything, feel anything, say anything. He wondered if this was how being dead felt like.

His stiff extremities protested as he forced them to move, to dig through the swampy darkness that felt very much like an old giant chewing gum. Eyes searching wildly, he swam deeper, turning his head from left to right, his long pony tail lazily swaying behind him. Eventually he had to surface, gasping for breath but he didn't allow himself more than one deep lungful before diving down again.

But there was nothing. He dived deeper and deeper, the pressure in his ears rising, making his head ache, but he stubbornly reached the bottom, touching and searching. The cold made it harder and harder to move and Reno's attempts were becoming increasingly desperate, diffuse but slower at the same time. Eventually his lungs were burning too much and he had to give up.

He rolled around to get a foothold on the pool bottom and was about to hurl himself up when something swayed softly against his hand. There was no time to check whether it was what he was looking for or some algae; he simply grabbed it and with some difficulty pulled it up along with him.

He barely had enough strength to make it back to the rusty ladder. His body was trembling from exhaustion, his lungs kept hacking up coughs and his arm had spastically clamped around the thin body he was dragging after him.

Somehow, he got them out.

Somehow his body remembered first aid basics; mouth-to-mouth, heart massage, he did it all, instinctively.

It was as if Reno was still trapped under water; he still couldn't see, feel, hear. His hands just kept moving and his lungs repeatedly pumped air into another pair of lungs and his mind waited blankly.

The boy's body remained as cold and lifeless as a dead fish.

"Come on!"

As if a spell had been broken the boy twitched and a spurt of water shot out of his mouth. He started coughing weakly, expelling more liquid. Reno stopped his ministrations as the boy rolled to the side, puking water.

"Get it all out," he intoned slowly, feeling as if he was moving around a dead thing that once had been his tongue, inside his mouth. "It's okay, breathe."

They were both laying in a puddle of clear water that made the tiles slippery enough for the boy to have trouble keeping his balance as he tried to sit up. But his breathing was becoming more stable and stronger.

Reno rubbed his back, feeling so numb and lost, unable to grasp a thought, not knowing what to feel or say or do. He watched the creature on the floor impassively without really seeing it. Then his body moved of its own will and cradled the drenched boy in its arms, holding him close.

Fridge boy protested. His fingers clawed weakly, his elbows pushed, his feet kicked, his breathing became frantic, panicked. Reno didn't care. He closed his eyes, one hand shakily stroking the boy's wet head.

"Sh, sh, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you again, I'm sorry. Shhhh."

He chanted the words over and over as if trying to soothe himself. Reno was exhausted, clinging to the slowly warming body, until, after an eternity, it finally stopped to fight back and lay bonelessly in Reno's embrace. Hadn't it been for the rush of warm air against his skin Reno might have feared the boy had died after all, but the quick puffs were reassuring.

"I still fucking hate y-"

tbc?

**Sorry for another abrupt ending _ Cliffhanger stick to me like dirt to fridge boy... Anyway, this is what the majority of you decided (though the 'minority' was short of one vote): Fridge Boy Shall Be Saved. Thank you all so much for your great, insightful, emotional and brilliant comments, I was totally blown away! I knew that you were a really smart and thoughtful bunch, but I am utterly convinced now that I have the bestest, brightest, most awesome readers anyone ever had XD Your explanations were so well thought out, it all made sense and I was so glad that I didn't have to decide what would happen now because there were so many possibilities and you grasped their psychology even better than I do! I just hope I can do you justice with the chapter and that those of you who voted for Reno to escape won't be too disappointed. The story isn't over yet ;)**

**Now here is what would have happened if Reno hadn't saved fridge boy:**

After Reno pushed the beast he makes a run for it. He is emotionally torn, but he does decide to leave and go through with it. After finding the elevator he tries hard and after many failed attempts finally manages to open it. Exhausted, he finds that the elevator cords are still there, but they are too sharp to touch them with bare hands, thus he has to go back and get his jacket that he had forgotten the first time. When he comes to the pool everything is quiet. Quickly, he grabs his jacket, feeling hollow, as the beast is dead and there is no one else down there. He briefly contemplates going back to the 'living room' one last time, kind of saying good bye, but then he decides against it and goes back to the elevator. He finds a way to climb the metal cord without cutting his hands open by wrapping his jacket around them.

Up and up he climbs.

When he comes to level -5 he has to take a break and he also needs water and food, so he gets off at that floor. It looks like his old one, only messier and there is hardly a way to get past all the piled up rubbish. Reno finds some water and kills a few rats before he goes back to climb up. He has to take off his shirt, because the fabric of his jacket is too torn and he starts to worry that he won't make it all the way up there with the little clothes he has left. At level -3 he has to make another stop and after a long, tiring search he finally finds an old shower curtain made of plastic that works to wrap around his hands.

When he is at level -2 he starts to see flickering lights ahead, and weakly shouts, but he gets no reaction until a few minutes later. A few flash lights are directed downwards and people are shouting, but he doesn't understand what they are saying. He can't even see them, because the light is blinding him. But Reno is just happy that he made it and climbs up to meet them with the last of his strength.

The shouts get louder and he wonders what they are saying, when something suddenly grips his foot and pulls him down.

In terror Reno looks down and finds the dripping wet beast boy clinging to the wall, grabbing him and trying to pull him back down. Reno gets frantic and clings to the cord and the shouts from above grow more desperate. There's bullet shots aimed at fridge boy, but only a few because the elevator shaft is narrow and they risk hurting Reno too.

Reno tries to kick at fridge boy and reason with him, offering rats, screaming at him, begging and pleading, but fridge boy won't let go and relentlessly drags Reno back down to his pantry. With the betrayal of Reno he shuts off, seeing Reno as a threat and finally decides to devour him.

**Noooow, on to the review replies!**

**Underhandlilies:** Haha, I try to make this story not too predictable^^ And you are totally right! I hand't even thought that far; Reno abandoning fridge boy would make him a beast, whereas the supposed beast is almost human for trusting Reno. Thank you for the input!

**Trigger happy Chaingunner: **SMDH? XD What does that mean? Yes, it is a tough decision *sigh*

**Katakana: **Yes, you are totally right, it is a miracle that Reno didn't become insane yet. And who is to say he won't now? I think, I would have fled...

**natzilla:** Awww, my poor baby XD Of course I couldn't have killed the beasty boy, especially after your death threats ;P There will lots more purring for you now *huggles* (and I did count the anonymous reviews... save for yours, but that wasn't really anonymous anyways)

**DelphiProphesy:** Thank you! Oh yes, it can get very frustrating, because there are so many things to take into consieration and sometimes when I have written a chapter I just notice that it is impossible for the beast to react like that, given its restrictions, and then I have to write it all over again XD On the other hand I learn a lot of how we perceive the world too, and essentially it is a lot of fun to construct this story^^ The both of them going upstairs together is still an option, and I am still figuring out what impact that would have on either of them XD

**Soyna:** I could never refuse spanking you XD (I just wrote 'rufus' instead of 'refuse'... freudian slip up, anyone?). I made you choose because I couldn't do it myself!

**Rina:** Hm, I think you are right! The beast would have found a way to survive the pool, but with that every last bit of trust would have been destroyed, and the only consequence would have been to eat Reno^^ The only way to keep Reno from going outside is when 'outside' does not become a safe haven but a threat itself. And I think there is a bit of Stockholm Syndrom playing in here as well... I hope you are not too disappointed :(

**Divanora:** Aye aye siiiiiirrrrr! Beasty saved! XD

**fantasi88:** Yes, exactly, Reno intended to drown the boy. I totally share your dilemma; I dont want them to part either, but it is not really about what I want but what is plausible... I hope this way I could combine logic and desire XD

**Vietta: **One rescue, served warm and steamy^^ Reno does have a heart, apparently.

**Amorcaucusest: **Yes, bad bad Reno! But he came to remedy his decision :)

**Kayamina:** Thank you, I am happy to hear that you enjoyed the story so far^^ It certainly would have been a waste of time and effort to teach beasty and then kill him! So here you go, more time and effort to spend on teaching fridge boy^^

**DamonWesker:** I know *winces* That is why I left the decision to the readers. Now that fridge boy was saved we will have to see what will happen; I think things are looking a bit brighter ;) I think too that a creature living on instinct as much as beast boy does would be able to survive the pool, probably. He did survive being alone for all his life... And in the end Reno was lucky to save him, because otherwise he'd be a gutted corpse in the pantry now.

**Omgitskirby:** Saved! XD

**chance969: **Me either O.o I had my fair share of being thrown into water when I was careless enough to not pay attention who was behind me -.- Haha, so I can totally relate to your reasoning, seriously, I would so run! But apparently Reno doesn't want to, so I think they are in for the cosy times now :D

**Shinosuke: **Thank you! May I ask what kind of story you were expecting?^^ I am happy that you like it so far!

**IA1979:** You have a very good point there! Reno is a Turk, yo! XD But first and foremost he is a human being and his training can only go so far. I suppose he has been down there for too long... Haha, when I read your comment about Beast Boy walking at the bottom of the pool and having enhanced lungs I thought of Splice, the movie, and thought he could also grow a pair of wings ;P That would be unexpected at least...

**Aabalany: **Yes, there are so many possibilites! I think if Reno had drowned fridge boy and not find a way outside he would have gone crazy and killed himself by throwing himself into the abyss... And no, you are not the only one who wants to see beastie in the civilized world! I love to imagine him sitting in an expensive restaurant all of a sudden. Oh, the culture shock... XD Hm, they have no way tomeasure time down there, but it has been a loooooong time already XD And no worries, I love lenghty reviews! Thank you so much for the feedback!

**...whatdoyouthink?**

**Smverduzco: **You are right, it wouldn't make sense to kill your own companion and Reno came to that conclusion too^^ Sorry for making you choose and thank you for your input!


	18. 18: Boy and the ghost

**It has been a while... sorry! Hm, I am awfully busy with my damn thesis, so my writing gets a bit neglected, but I hope to have the new chapter up sooner (it's half written^^).**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I want to thank my darling batzilla for betaing so fast! **

* * *

**18. Boy and the Ghost**

Reno didn't get to finish his sentence. It wasn't that he'd been interrupted by anything or so, not at all. There was nothing down here. Just them.

"Fuck, you're gorgeous."

That was a massive understatement, but it came closest to conveying Reno's surprise and inner weakness at staring unexpectedly at something so otherwordly perfect. By now Reno should have gotten used to the unusual, perverse and obscure that twisted his comfortable, familiar world into something alien and frightening. Still the little shocks kept coming, crushing his carefully shaped routine and adapted worldviews like a tsunami a tiny fisher boat.

He'd seen so many ugly things down here that the sight of beauty made him want to cry. He didn't, instead he held fridge boy a lot more carefully as he seemed suddently made of crystal. Maybe it was just the hideous surrounding that made the boy look so fresh, clean, pure – words flooded Reno's mind that he hadn't thought of in ages and that he knew didn't fit the creature in his arms.

Or did they?

Almost reluctantly he pushed away a wet strand of silver hair that hung over the boy's face. Reno's callused fingertips recorded that the white skin was soft and had the consistency of fine velvet. The beast didn't move, didn't blink. He stiffly clung to Reno's chest, processing his near death, relishing in the warmth of another body for the first time.

"Oy." Reno's coarse voice echoed through the dilapidated hall. The water in the pool had settled down. Sweeping lazily back and forth until it came to a standstill. The light pattern of the water on the ceiling had stopped dancing too.

As the boy didn't react, the redhead tried to move him for a better look but fridge boy's arms were locked around him in a vice grip and refused to let go. He was still trembling too, Reno only noticed now. It was only a mere vibration that went through his limbs, as if he was being charged up by an invisible source of power.

Exasperated, Reno grabbed the boy's head in both hands and forced it upwards. He wanted to have a good look at that face. At first fridge boy struggled but Reno was relentless and eventually his room mate surrendered.

"See, that wasn't so bad," Reno muttered, his eyes narrowing as he took in the boy's features. He was perfect on a frightening, unnatural level that made Reno weak in the knees. His stomach churned and he wished he could look away, but he was mesmerized. His instincts were on high alert, signaling extreme danger, as this monstrous beauty was more than his mind could take without cracking. Despite its human features, its soft rosy mouth, pale skin, its nose, cheeks, forehead, eyes (the eyes, the eyes were the worst) there was nothing human about it. It was like a venetian mask. With eyes.

The boy caught the moment before Reno freaked out in timely fashion.

"Rat."

That simple word broke the spell. Reno noticed that his fingers were still frantically squeezing the boy's head and relaxed them. He breathed out slowly, the warm air drying some of the water droplets on the nameless boy's face. Those green eyes watched him with the same dull intelligence as always.

"You hungry?" He managed a half-hearted smile that wasn't reciprocated. Somehow now it hurt even more than usual.

"HhunRY," the boy repeated. It could have been an affirmation.

"Me too," Reno muttered. The stress and the physical activity had used up all his energy. The boy didn't move and when Reno remained motionless too he simply let his head fall back against Reno's shoulder. His hunger wasn't big enough yet to surpass the comfort of lying here. A low steady sound pounded gently against the beast's ear. He didn't recognize it as Reno's heartbeat, but it was the most calming sound he had ever heard. It pulled a string deep inside the beast, put him through a bit of emotional turmoil, made him restless, but not so much that he'd dare move and miss one beat.

It pulsed away the bad experience from before, where he hadn't been able to breathe and where something so extraordinary had happened that he had nothing to compare it to. There had been new feelings that he didn't want to have ever again (sadness) but all that paled and blurred so quickly now that he was almost forgetting them.

The beast moved his ear closer to the sound with an unconscious purr and shut his eyes.

When he came out of his dizzy meditation like state, rEnO had just come back with a bunch of rAt. The beast blinked lazily, slightly peeved to find himself snuggled against a wall instead of the place with the sound. He kept staring at Reno's chest for a while but the redhead didn't get the hint. Instead he pushed the dead animal in fridge boy's face encouragingly and with great enthusiasm.

Eventually the beast took it and gnawed at it listlessly.

Life went on as usual.

They slept, ate, rEnO made sounds and forged connections to them, filled them with meaning. The beast learned them quickly but he was restless. There was something else he wanted but he didn't know how to communicate it.

After many circles of sleeping, eating and learning they happened to be on a walk when the beast made a decision.

He had crawled through the hallways ahead of Reno who followed, whistling and screeching with the broken end of a hanger along the walls. They'd gotten into familiar territory when fridge boy suddenly stopped at a crossing, tilting his head and staring straight ahead like a deer on a clearing that had heard something suspicious. Reno stopped and kicked a stone into the empty hallway.

"What's up?" he asked, pretty unconcerned. Fridge boy would do that sometimes, the gods knew what he was hearing with his freaky superhuman ears. Reno found the sight amusing and a bit delightful because that tight look of concentration was pretty much the only expression his strange friend showed. And recently he'd seemed a bit down too, or at least Reno thought so. Maybe he was wrong and it was just the fact that Reno could see his face now, which was a major distraction and somewhat clouded his perception. He had to learn how to read fridge boy anew, he guessed, with that expressionless face in the mix. Even now Reno hadn't gotten quite used to it and whenever those eyes landed on him, they sent little thrills through him.

There was no reaction and Reno was just about to turn left, assuming that his room mate would follow (as he always did), but this time the boy quickly crawled into the corridor straight ahead. Within seconds he vanished in the darkness, leaving Reno behind.

"Oy!" the redhead shouted after him, turning and cursing. It wasn't just the damn face; fridge boy did have changed, and he seemed petulant and stubborn now too!

"Come back here, yo! That's bad, baaaad, you hear me! You know what bad means, don't pretend you don't! That's it, no rat for you today!"

Stumbling and ranting, Reno hurried through the pitch black hall way, kicking stuff out of his way. The boy was so damn fast and Reno didn't feel like chasing him. He'd looked forward to a nice, lazy walk, not this!

He finally found fridge boy sitting in front of a hole in the wall, that had been a door once. Panting, Reno leaned one arm against a cold concrete wall and glared at the brat who didn't even bat a lash. Damn, he was so out of shape it wasn't funny anymore.

"Are you happy now?" he snapped, slowly catching his breath. He could feel squished bugs sticking to the sole of his feet and between his toes but was past the point of being disgusted. If anything it would be convenient for later when he got hungry.

Fridge boy did that head tilting of his again, his gorgeous face not even twitching.

"Oh c'mon, don't give me that look. That won't work on me pal, you're going to bed without rat tonight, ya hear me? Seriously, what's gotten into you recen-"

Reno paused as the surroundings peeled out of the darkness and became familiar. He'd been so busy catching up that he hadn't noticed where they were actually going.

Now he was wary.

"Hey, come here." Reno's voice had taken on a coaxing, distinctively friendlier tone with a tiny nervous edge. He crouched a bit and held out his hand to lure fridge boy back to him. "Let's not go there, okay? I wasn't serious about the rat, just joking, haha." The dry laugh was accompanied by a nervous lick over chapped lips.

"You're still good. No need for another bath."

The beast stared at Reno for a long moment, then turned and crawled into the room with the swimming pool at an inhuman speed.

"Fuck!" Reno breathed and then dashed after him. Only absently did he noticed that everything was as they had left it; same broken tiles, dirty smears on the floor and wall. He didn't have time to look around; his whole attention was focused on the damn boy who hung over the edge of the pool, looking at Reno as if to make sure that he was seeing him.

Then he let himself drop.

tbc?

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**And another cliffy... I wonder what the beast is thinking! Any guesses?^^**

**underhandlilies:** Haha, thank you! Hm, Reno really needed a hug and he deserved one for being loyal, don't he?^^ Yes, creepy ending indeed, but it is not yet finished, hehe.

**Natzilla**: Did you read the alternative ending yet? XD Nah, Reno had issues, it would have just been too easy to save fridge boy so early :P Haha, you are right about beastie purring though!

**Rina:** Thank you! Actually it would have been easier to just make him run away, but I like a good challenge and it was up to the readers who decided that Reno should stay. I must say I am kind of glad about that. Oh yes, wild beasts can be tamed, sometimes, and I wonder if Reno can do it^^ Thank you so much for your review and encouragement, it warms my heart! PS: Haha, yes, that is usually how a horror movie ends, so its not that unexpected anymore, is it? XD PPS: I had so much fun writing that! PPPS: I saw Splice and I must say... interesting depiction of males. The moment she turns she becomes a vicious rapist... Hm.

**DamonWesker:** Aww, I will end it in a few chapters, hehe ;) Well, with all the mako down there they might as well live there for an eternity! Nah, we will see. Things happen XD Hopefully interesting things! And sorry for the slow updaes, the next one should be faster since the chapter is half written!

**IA1979:** Haha, I guess Reno was lucky indeed. He's got a soft spot for fridge boy and yes, he has been down there for what he perceives a long time. Time doesn't really matter down there. Even if Reno knew that it was just a week or a month or a year it wouldnt change anything about his situation. Things happen independently of time down there... Haha and yes, shiny beast! XD

**Aeriths-Rain:** No worries dear, thank you for reviewing that chapter too^^ I am glad you liked the ending that won, and yes, the other one was a bit creepy, sorry XD Hm, maybe they are about to be found! We will see soon!

**Aabalany:** Hahaha, thanks! I am happy that you are so excited and hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! Sorry it took so long :( Yes, fridge boy was 'on', kinda XD At least he was willing to learn from Reno and get involved with him! And he still is, because Reno saved him.

**Vietta:** Well... life's hard XD In one version he's kind fo free of the beast though^^

**Sooooooooo, liked the new chapter? Yes? Noes? Lemme know please!**


	19. 19: The Lotus Eater

**Oh gods oh gods oh gods... I am so late again SORRY! First of all, I wish everyone a happy new year!**

**And second: here's the chapter, much longer this time, I hope you likey!**

**Many many chocolate cakes to my darling Nat-Nat for the betaing! ;P**

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**Chapter 19**

**Lotus Eater**

Reno thought he would go crazy at the sight. What the bloody hell was going on? He roared and jumped forward, falling to his knees and slithering to the edge of the pool where he caught fridge boy by the foot before he could fall entirely in the muddy water. Hissing through his teeth, Reno flexed his arm muscles and pulled the slender body back.

They fell to the floor. Reno's head hit the hard tiles and the pain blurred briefly the sight of the ceiling before his eyes, but it was nowhere near enough to knock him unconscious or dampen his temper.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

He couldn't remember having screamed like that in ages. Fridge boy was a wet bundle lying on Reno's stomach, coughing and struggling to move atop of him.

Instead of being guilt ridden and apologetic, which was the LEAST Reno expected, fridge boy blinked at him. Then he crashed his head against Reno's chest, knocking the breath out of him, and wrapped his arm around the redhead's neck.

And _then _he had the nerve to close his eyes and look utterly and thoroughly relaxed.

He purred!

Reno just stared, truly speechless.

If the beast could have, he would have smiled.

"What..." Reno tried to get up but the beast grunted his disapproval and clung harder without even deigning to open his glowing mako eyes. Reno fell back and groaned as the truth slowly dawned on him.

"You are the _stupidest _thing to ever walk the planet," he breathed, his eyes following a crack in the ceiling. His arms drew hesitantly around the evenly breathing body on top of him. "Next time you want a hug we leave out the whole drowning thingy, got it?"

The beast just kept on making his little purring noises of utter contentment and Reno looked down at the drop dead gorgeous creature sitting in his lap.

Somehow he doubted anyone envied him.

- mmmmmm-mmmmm-mmmmm-

After that cuddling became a regular feature of their strange relationship. It was also a nerve wrecking one, at least in the beginning. Somehow Reno had to explain to the boy that hugging was not connected to the pool and that it wasn't something that resulted from being rescued from drowning. In his failing logic, the boy seemed to be convinced that the hug could only be repeated if a certain chain of action took place beforehand and that was not only dangerous but exhausting too. On the other hand Reno couldn't just randomly walk up to fridge boy and hug him because the boy was _very_ peculiar about when he wanted to be touched and when he didn't. On a few occasions, he had made use of his infamous pipe to signal that, right now, he was not in the mood and it was a chore to teach him the word 'hug' to express his desires for physical closeness.

What turned even harder, after a while, was to teach him that there were times when _Reno_ wasn't in the mood either. This hadn't been much of a problem in the beginning, because Reno was starved for affection (something he hadn't thought possible) but after he'd been woken an uncountable amount of times during the same sleeping period to satisfy fridge boy's cuddle cravings (that lasted exactly 5 seconds before he crawled back into his fridge and left Reno tired and sleep-deprived), the redhead had to take drastic measures.

Thus the boy got to learn the words "fuck off", "sleep" and "cuddles". He also got to learn another word. As it happened, they started to develop a "bed" time cuddling ritual. Reno would lay with his head upright against the wall with his little company either huddled up by his side or just dropped right on top of Reno, lying flat against him, unmoving. Sometimes fridge boy would snatch a careless bug and squish it between his sharp, pearly teeth, but that was not the main attraction.

The center of the ritual was "story".

The beast didn't care about what Reno was telling him since he didn't understand most of the words. The essential was that Reno formed words that would pleasantly rumble in his chest and soothe the beast's ears. He just liked to hear Reno talk. And since Reno had nothing exciting to tell about his day and was wary to dwell on the past, he told the beast stories that he had heard long ago or just made up on the spot. It wasn't that the redhead hadn't tried to tell fridge boy about his former life. It was just that it felt so alien and far away now. He could barely remember anything and he didn't want to wake sleeping dogs. In a way he was happy down here and he wanted to keep it that way. It was a pure, rational choice of survival to leave his old life behind and not relive it for a tale that no one understood anyway. Least of all Reno himself.

"All right, what kind of story you want to hear tonight, baby-cakes?" Reno yawned, his hand resting on the beast's skinny, dirty back. He could feel the ivory bones of the boy's ribcage rise and fall like a wave beneath his palm and it was calming.

"StOrrrY", the boy demanded lazily, the breath of his words startling a long strand of hair that hung over his nose.

"I'm not gonna tell you about Beauty and the Beast again, yo" the former Turk declared succinctly, picking his ear with his pinky and then smearing his findings on his shirt.

"StOrYYY."

"Yeah, I got that. Just lemme think for a second here." Reno sighed then closed his eyes to the point where fridge boy became only a blurry shape in his lap."Hm, I think I know one. It's called The Lotus Eater." He couldn't remember where he had heard or read it, but the basic plotline was still present in his mind.

"Okay, here goes... Once upon a time... there was a pond. It wasn't just an ordinary pond, yo. I couldn't make a story of that and who'd wanna hear about a bloody, stupid pond? Yeah, no one. So, our pond was extra special and had magical powers. Seriously. It was deeply hidden in the middle of a giant swamp and covered with lotuses. And to top it off : Through the heavy veils of mist, the lotuses shone like blossomed pearls nestled in large leaves that spread over the pond like a green blanket." Reno usually wasn't a very poetic guy but since this was pretty much the only entertainment he got down here, he put some effort into it (occasionally). The images he produced were more for himself than anyone else as the beast didn't understand them. It also helped him to keep remembering words.

"Anyway, that super pond was guarded by the creature that lived in that pond, the lotus eater. People said that he was the prince of the lotuses or something, and that the pond was his kingdom. But as he was the only remaining one of his kind, he was very lonely and the tale was that he sat by the pond day by day, eating his lotuses and waiting for a human girl to find him so he could make her the princess of the lake. But no one came for many many years, and people forgot about the lotus pond in the swamp and so he kept waiting there all by himself. Shit happens."

"Now it also happened that, in a village not far from the swamp, some tottery old zombies still remembered the tale of the poor bastard. One evening, an old hag shared the tale with a group of villagers who had gathered around the fire. Most of them laughed at the dumb story but Nicola, a young girl in the audience, didn't. When the story was finished, she approached the old hag and asked her where to find the lotus eater, even though her best friend, let's call him Harry, mocked her about it. Harry was kinda okay, but pretty dumb. He also had the hots for Nicola and wanted to stick his dick into her punani."

"Ni-la," the boy babbled, crushing another bug and shoving it down his greedy hatch with the palm of his dirty hand.

Reno smirked and continued. "Now Nicola was quite the tomboy. She wasn't your average shrinking violet. She'd had a tough life, you know. Her father was a known drunkard and he beat her up pretty bad more often than not. Since her mother had kicked the bucket giving birth to her, she'd had to grow up fast and learn to kick some ass. She'd got a loud, potty mouth, too. Anyway, she left right after the story was over and went home so her daddy wouldn't get mad. Horny Harry tagged along, up to the crossing where they parted, but being the idiot that he was he didn't have the balls to confess to her. And so they said good night yadda yadda and Nicola went home where her sicko daddy was already waiting for her. He was drunk and she endured it until he was done. But when he finally fell asleep on the floor, next to a lake of spilled booze, she got up, grabbed a candle and marched into the swamp."

"Since her home was pretty close to the marshlands she'd been playing there often as a kid. Probably no one knew the surroundings as well as she did. The dumb villagers got lost in the swamp and drowned and the smarter ones just stayed the fuck away. But our heroine made her way through the reeds, the ponds and the mud. It was dark and the moon was mostly hidden behind clouds, but she didn't chicken. Some ugly toads croaked along the way, but yeah..."

Reno moved his shoulders a bit, stretching the muscles there so they wouldn't form painful knots. As far as he could tell the boy was intently listening, otherwise he'd have retreated to his fridge. Reno's left hand moved up to fridge boy's elbow and started to lazily trace the velvety, warm skin with light strokes. The beast appreciated it with a sigh.

"So on and on she went, her candle shrinking with every step, but there ain't no magical lotus pond popping up anywhere. Her feet hurt, she didn't know where she was anymore but either she was really stupid or really desperate coz she kept on walking as she wondered what the lotus prince guy would look like, what his kingdom would be like. A place where her old man was absent had to be a great place and maybe things would go smoothly for once. Lost in her happy thoughts, Nicola never noticed how very quiet it had become and how the mist had risen higher and higher ."

"Only when she noticed some light ahead of her, did she become aware of where she was. She quickly doused the candle and sneaked through the reeds. It was suddenly very silent, the animal sounds around had been swallowed by the thick blanket of white mist, but Nicola didn't care cause she had just laid eyes on the ethereal and solemn beauty of the lotus lake."

"LodUs," the beast muttered, sticking a finger in the gooey insides of a massacred beetle and smearing it on the tiles in artistic circles. LodUs seemed to be a recurring theme and he started to wonder what LodUs was.

"Are you telling the story, or am I?" Reno asked, tilting his head and flicking fridge boy on the back of his head. He'd just gotten into it. "Feel free to take over any time, yo."

The boy sighed and remained quiet.

"Thought so. Now, as I was saying, Nicola was mesmerized by the pretty lake. However, even after walking around it three times she still hadn't spotted the famed lotus eater. So she sat down near the shore, disappointed, and started to rip some reeds apart, cause that's just what you do when you sit by a boring lake with nothing else to do. Just as she cut herself, screamed "SHIT!", (that was the kind of girl she was) and decided to go home, pissed off, a light rippling appeared on the water and as she looked up, she almost got a friggin heart attack, because there, in the water, stood the lotus eater."

Reno made a meaningful pause for dramatic effect, but also because he had no idea how the lotus eater looked like. The interruption was not appreciated and something, or rather someone, pinched him in the side and demanded with an impatient glare "StOrrY!"

"You know what?" Reno glared back, gripping the boy's nose and squeezing, "You're a shitty audience, that's what you are, yo!" Maybe it was just him but he was under the impression that he got sanctioned with a pout.

"Okay then, there was that awesome lotus eater, and he looked like... I dunno... kinda like... godsdammit, he was a pretty boy, okay? All shiny hair and pale skin... and he was kinda naked too... well, he had white hair. White long hair that flowed down his back and disappeared into the water. And...hm, he was kinda androgynous. Actually, his hair and skin glowed the same shade as the lotuses did, which makes sense as he only ate lotuses." Reno shrugged, the mental image he had of the lotus eater resembling remarkably a certain boy in his lap. Just a lot more cleaner.

"There was something special about him, though. First off, he had gills, two of them on each side of his neck, so he could breathe underwater, yo. And then, and that probably was the most startling thing about him, he had no pupils. His eyes were white and shiny just as the rest of him, only intervened by thin red lines." To visualize the picture, Reno rolled his pupils back in his head till there was only the white left, but fridge boy remained unimpressed by the performance.

"Nicola was freaked out by that at first. But she quickly pulled herself together and waved at him. When he didn't react, she gathered all her wits and said too loudly "Hello Mister Lotus Eater, about friggin' time, I almost froze my ass off". The lotus eater tilted his head as if listening and trying to locate the sound. That was when she noticed that he was most likely blind. But she didn't really give a crap about that. Actually, she was happy about that, because she was dirty and not exactly a pretty lady. And she felt connected, cause they were both imperfect. As he didn't answer she kept on babbling, telling him about herself, and her life,and that kinda stuff. Finally she got sleepy. The lotus eater remained in the water, probably hoping for some sexy action but eventually she said that she had to go back. She had still unfinished business but she promised to return once she had taken care of it and then she would stay with him for good."

"So Nicola left. Luckily she had good memory and made her way back to the village safely in the morning. But after seeing the pretty lake and the hot lotus eater, she found the village now boring and ordinary. There was no inner light in the people and houses here and everything looked dull. Also she didn't know what to say to the people she had come back for. Once home, Nicola just stepped over the stinking snoring body of her father to collect the few personal things she possessed and left without a word. As she passed the women at the well, they just looked at her and whispered, probably bitching about her, something she had never noticed before. They made her sick to the stomach and she didn't say a single good-bye. As she walked out of the village, she heard someone call her name and turned around to see good old Harry running after her. Nicola stopped as he was her only buddy and she thought she owed it to him to say bye. "I'm going to the lotus eater,"she said, "I'm gonna be his princess." Harry didn't like the news. "What the hell! You can't become his damn princess, he's a monster!" " At that, Reno poked the boy in the cheek, his voice taking on a dramatic, high-pitched tone. Fridge boy grunted, swatted at the intrusive finger and gathered the remains of his snack to chew on them for the rest of the story.

"Nicola got pretty pissed at his lack of support. She just turned, leaving him standing there and walked back into the swamp. At first she was afraid that she wouldn't find the lake again and she had almost given up when the mist started rising again. The day turned to twilight around her and again the eery silence surrounded her. The lotus eater was already waiting for her. Nicola paused, looking back, one last time, at the path she had come from and walked into the water, past the lotus eater who turned his head slowly, following the water sounds as she stepped further into the pond, past the lotuses. The water was a bit cold and the girl shivered, but she knew she would get used to it soon. And then..."

Reno paused and fully opened his eyes. His gaze was fixed on the opposite wall, but he didn't see it. Before him, was the lotus eater, that blind gorgeous creature that stood behind the dirty girl in the cold water, waiting for her to advance. The faint, sweet odor of the frail lotuses swept into his nose and it felt as if time had stopped to exist in this place. Everything would be eternally beautiful and pure.

"Then the lotus eater reached out and plucked one of the pearly lotuses. His jaw dropped down to his chest as if dislocated. He had no tongue and his crude mouth was full of razor sharp teeth down to the back of his throat, the same as sharks' are. He gulped down the flower and crushed it mechanically with his too many teeth till the lotus started to bleed out of his mouth, in ruby streams. Nicola never saw that since she stood with her back to the lotus eater. Not that it would have mattered anyway. She had stepped into his realm so he grabbed her and dragged her under. She still thought that she was going to be a pretty princess until the foul smell of the water hit her. As she looked down through the murky swill hidden under the beautiful green blanket, she understood why there had been no animal sounds around. The bottom of the lake was littered with animal and human carcasses. The roots of the fragile lotuses dug deeply into the rotten soil, sucking that foul nutrition, making the buds above blossom into surreal beauty. As she looked back at the lotus eater in terror, he opened his mouth again and ripped her throat out. He gently laid her bleeding corpse next to the others. She would rest there forever and feed his sole source of nutrition, like the best garden fertilizer," Reno concluded slowly. Towards the end of the story he was overwhelmed by a strong feeling of deja vu. Well, maybe not a deja vu, but it seemed strangely familiar.

"So watcha think? Nice story or what?" he asked, slightly wryly, poking the boy in the cheek. But fridge boy was tightly snuggled against Reno's belly, breathing evenly, his left foot twitching a bit from whatever dream occupied him. Reno sighed, almost gently pushed a strand of matted hair away from the small face and closed his eyes to catch some sleep too.

tbc?

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**Hahaha, I was amazed how many of you knew exactly what the beast wanted from Reno with it his dive into the pool! You are such beast experts! XD Or maybe my twists become predictable? ;)**

Review replies:

fantasi88: You are absolutely right! Beasty just wants to cuddle, and luckily, Reno doesn't let him drown XD

Tristripe: Yes, you nailed it! Someone needed a hug! XD

underhandlilies: You know, when I started this fic, I didn't have any cute scenes in mind (I didn't intend this to be this long anyways XD) but as time goes by those two develop a strange dynamic... If you wanna I can send fridge boy over so Reno gets some rest and you can do the cuddling with him for a while! But he stinks, just a warning ;)

BoomChick: Yesss, he does! XD Nah, he can't be suicidal, then everything Reno did for him so far would have been in vain O.o Though that could make for interesting drama...

Vietta: Hehehe, there's more cuddly Reno and beast for you then! ;)

omgitskirby: There you go XD That wasn't really 'soon', but I work on being faster!

Aeriths-Rain: Yepp, he just wanted a hug^^ Oh, I think we will find out who he is! If you can be a bit more patient? 3

Roara chan: Hey there! I am glad you like it so far! About the heritage of fridge boy- I won't say anything about that yet, because I don't want to spoil it ;) But I hope that I can answer your questions later! About being a frequent updater... I used to be XD I updated once a week, but atm that is not possible. But I try to update once a month or every second month!

DamonWesker: Yes, you are so right! Hehehe, who doesn't like warm fuzzy feelings? ;) And yes, Reno like! And with two sex-deprived males, who knows where cuddles will lead to... *cough*

Rina: Hey darling! You are absolutely right, the beast did it on purpose to get some huggles outta poor Reno! I suppose he really trusts Reno to save him, respectively, the beast does not contemplate the possibility of Reno not saving him, because he did it before. So why wouldn't he again? And yes, there's emotion! Have you ever seen the masked people during the carneval in Venice? They are so very very beautiful. And at the same time they are incredibly creepy. It's really difficult to describe the contrast, and I suppose this is what Reno felt like... Oh, and I didn't find to place to include it yet, but Reno cuts his hair with the sharp edge of a broken tile because it annoys him otherwise XD

natzilla: No worries, I totally steal your time with the beta job already ;) Reno is a bit dense sometimes! He can't emphasize as well as the beast as you do... :)No, you did not mention that, I want a video of that, hahahahaaha!

Aabalany: Awww, no worries! I'm glad the chapter could cheer you up! Oh yes, Reno noticed of pritee his favorite little fridge boy is *evil grin* And you are right of course, the beast doesn't even understand the compliment and most likely even if he did he wouldn't care. And do not worry, I love long reviews! Whenever I feel that I am stuck with the story I go back to read them and that is a great motivation!

**... you wanna some smexy action in the next chapter?**


	20. 20: Mother

**I bring new chappyyyyyyyyyy! And I bow down to my darling Nat-Nat, who did an amazing job betaing this and smoothing things out so that they are (hopefully) somewhat comprehensible XD**

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**Chapter 20**

**Mother**

Many of the early theories about love used to center on the idea that the earliest attachment between mother and child was merely a mean for the child to obtain food, relieve thirst and avoid pain.

A brilliant psychologist named Harlow, a bespectacled, thin lipped man, permanently criticized for his inhuman experimenting methods (one of his experimental constructions was called the 'Pit of Despair' and students of his had been quoted saying that Harlow kept on running his experiments "to the point where it was clear to many people that his work was really violating ordinary sensibilities, that anybody with respect for life or people would find this offensive. It's as if he was trying to say: 'I'm only going to be around another ten years. What I'd like to do, then, is leave a great big mess behind.' If that was his aim, he did a perfect job.")_,_ removed young rhesus monkeys from their biological mothers, a few hours after birth. He then offered them the choice between a wire construction that was bare and cold but provided food through an attached baby bottle– or a similar construction that provided nothing but a bit of warmth in the form of a terrycloth.

The baby monkeys invariably spent significantly more time with the foodless cotton 'mother'.

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It was very unusual for the beast to fall asleep somewhere else than the fridge.

He dozed in different places, preferably hanging from the "sun"(he had discovered recently that rEnO made a good pillow too) but he could only sleep in the safe, warm and cozy confinement of the little rusty box that he had stuffed painstakingly with all the soft things he had been able to find. The beast didn't know why (and had never cared to find out), but once he folded himself inside the narrow little square, inbetween old paper, raddled cloths and moldy bandages, a great quietude befell him. Scrunched-up in the fetal position, softly suckling at his thumb, he was at utter peace with himself and his little world. It was all the warmth and comfort he knew and needed.

Before (that was, prior to rEnO's arrival) he sometimes could remain in the fridge for long periods of time. Even when he was hungry and when hardly any rAts and small hard ones (or 'bUgs', as rEnO had taught him) crawled within his reach, the beast still kept himself confined in the fridge, without even a glance through the narrow opening of the ajar door. The world outside, the "sun", his hunting grounds, the broken rooms and moist corridors ceased to be. They were shut out, their cold, hard existence wiped from the beast's mind as he nestled amongst the softness surrounding him.

The arrival of Reno and the bond of trust they had built, provided him now with another source of warmth and softness. While it was not physically as encompassing (rEnO was too thin to completely wrap around the beast), something inside the boy was wrapped up entirely. Being near rEnO was pleasant, though in a totally different way than being in the fridge. The soft thudding of rEnO's heartbeat made him feel warm and cozy within. Whenever he heard it, he became sleepy, dreamy and relaxed. It made the beast realize that he had a heartbeat of his own. Still, he had slept in the fridge his whole life and he still retreated there to sleep, even after rEnO's arrival. It was as close a 'home' and family as the beast could get.

This time however, while his companion was still busy telling the stOrY... the beast just fell asleep. Reno's low babbling, the sounds that spilled around the beast like a shower of warm summer rain (not that he knew what summer rain was)...

It just happened. He fell into a deep slumber, a spiral of eventless dreams circling him...

With rEnO's arrival the beast had slowly come to unravel another curious fact – the distinction between dreaming and being awake.

When he had been alone, his life had been an endless repetition. It didn't matter whether he was awake or asleep since his dreams were as simple as his reality. They didn't differ. It was all about eating, relieving himself, hanging from the sun or crawling through dark tunnels. The only difference was the fact that fridge boy retreated into his fridge when he was sleepy and came out once he was awake. However, he could not define getting inside the fridge and falling asleep as the beginning of a sleeping period that ended when he left his 'bed'. Crawling inside the fridge and leaving it were two single events, unconnected to the period in-between. Just like hanging from the sun and eating bUgs afterwards were both spur-of-the-moment, independent actions. They had no relation to each other, at least not to the beast. And nothing in his dreams happened that would give him a hint that it was not 'real'. Reality and dream seamlessly merged with one another.

When Reno entered his life, the beast started to perceive two different states of awareness. For the first time, he was able to watch someone sleeping. Besides, the periods of time spent inside and outside the fridge started to differ. The beast became aware that getting in the fridge and drifting off marked the beginning of an episode that – compared to being awake- made less sense. Being asleep and dreaming meant that surreal things happened that didn't really _happen_.

Once, for example, the beast had cuddled up inside the fridge and, after a moment of dizziness, had found himself crawling back out in the room. RenO had been there and the beast was hungry. He had grabbed the pipe and started beating rEnO until rEnO had stopped moving. Then he had eaten rEnO (or most of him). The next thing the beast knew, he was back in the fridge and when he came out, rEnO was intact, drinking from the water bowl in the hallway (at that, the beast had experienced relief for the first time).

Right now, the beast was trapped in a dream, outside of the fridge. He felt dizzy and strangely sore. He blinked and took in his surroundings, finding himself still on top of rEnO.

A few BUgs were crawling lazily before his eyes but he didn't feel hungry.

"Monin' SUNshine," rEnO mumbled from above. It was something he said whenever the beast crawled out of the fridge and Reno was already awake, or sometimes when the beast got bored of watching rEnO sleep and poked him in the face (though then rEnO'd usually stuck to "fUck Offfff!").

"YOUbettErgEtOffme...gOtAlIttleIssUedOwnthEre." The babble came with a small push to the beast's shoulders.

The boy yawned and stretched. He noted that a part of his body had stiffened and tingled (that happened from time to time). But furthermore: a part of rEnO was stiff too. On top of that, rEnO made a strange noise as the beast moved against him. And to add further to the curiosity of the incident, the beast found that his stiffy rubbing against rEnO's stiffy felt extraordinarily good.

"WhoahOldItthAtAIn'tnOgOOdIdeA!"

The beast purred and the room blurred around him as his lids drifted closed. His senses concentrated on hearing (rEnO's heartbeat speeding up constantly the more the beast moved, his accelerated breathing) and feeling (the little tingle curled in his lower body kept getting stronger and throbbed faster, intensifying with each wriggle against rEnO's warm, hard body). He ignored rEnO's protesting hands that were trying in vain to push him away (unfortunately for Reno it only added to the friction).

"NonOnOnO, IsAIdstOP!AHH!"

The tingling grew into an unbearably huge ball that swirled violently inside the beast, consuming him. His skin felt much more sensitive than usual and the hair on his arms was rising. RenO was now grinding against him, up and down, the two hard organs sliding along each other in a perfect rhythm, only separated by the thin, threadbare fabric of rEnO's pants. The beast just kept clinging to the wiry body as their joined heartbeats and ragged breathing thundered in his ears.

At last, rEnO buckled violently and his fingers dug almost painfully into the boy's shoulders. The beast' s head exploded in an orgasmic white light and the shock left him light-headed, just like when he hung from the sun for a long time, but it now felt stronger and better. His senses melted into one, consumed by the fire, a feeling so good and so intense like nothing the beast had felt before.

When his head cleared up a bit, fridge boy felt the soft stickiness on his belly. Underneath him, rEnO was still breathing heavily. The beast shifted, slipped a sluggish hand between their two bodies, dipped it in the puddle of semen and licked it off with relish.

Beneath, rEnO let out a groan.

Fridgeboy purred, feeling much better now, and decided that it was time to wake up because he was hungry. They could go take a dump and then hunt the ground for rAts and bUgs. Maybe rEnO would take him to the pOOl, where they recently had started to 'bathe'. That was fUn, there were a lot of things they could do with wAtErrr (including dropping into it, but rEnO got very loud and fidgety when he did that, so the boy only submitted to that urge very rarely now).

He closed his eyes, waiting to get dizzy and to find himself magically transferred back into his fridge.

He did get a bit dizzy (it wasn't easy with rEnO making loud sounds and trying to kick and push him off) but when he opened his eyes again, he was still on top of rEnO.

If the beast could have, he would have frowned but he simply stared blankly at the hallway instead and just squeezed his eyes shut harder.

"YOUgOnnagGEttOffMenoworWHAT!"

For a moment the boy considered silencing rEnO with a well placed punch to his loud head, but his companion was faster, finally delivering a kick to the boy that threw him off on the hard ground.

It hurt.

Dreaming. Did. Not. Hurt.

Reno struggled to get to his feet, his face red and his pants sticky.

"What the fuck?" he panted, wiping his hand on his pants. He looked flustered and pretty much at a loss on how to process what had just happened. "What are you thinking, molesting me like that? Just because we both got morning wood doesn't mean you can just...fucking rub against me like that!"

He sounded profoundly indignant, but felt in fact extraordinarily awkward. Nonetheless he underlined his statement with a pointed glare. (But damn... it had felt so good!)

The beast sat on the floor, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I'm talking to _you_, sunshine," he snorted aggressively, wiping his hand with even more force.

The reaction Reno then got confused him to no end.

All of a sudden the boy leaped on all four, dashed into the fridge at the speed of light and shut the door. A second later, he crawled out again, still sporting the same apprehensive look and staring at Reno with wide and somehow expectant eyes. The redhead slowly let go of his pants, his eyebrows shooting up in confusion, having no idea what he was supposed to do now. Fridgeboy was behaving as if he was mental now (well, at least more than usual...) and Reno wondered if his own initial reaction hadn' t been a bit too violent.

"Uhm...yah well, it wasn't that bad actually. I mean, I'm usually not into that kind of stuff but ya can't be picky down here, can ya. And even dirty you look better than 90 percent of my usual fucks. Which is kinda depressing when I think about, yo..."

Fridgeboy just gazed at him for a moment then spun around hectically on his own axis a few times. He stopped and stared a last time at Reno with terrified, incredulous eyes before jumping back into his fridge, banging the door shut loudly.

Reno moved quietly closer, crouched down and knocked. As a response, the door was roughly pulled shut all the way, making even the usual small crack disappear.

"Okay fine, it was pretty awesome! If you insist we can... you know... do it again."

No reply from the fridge.

"...Please?"

* * *

**Probably not the smexy action that you expected *cough* Well... since I know where I want this story to go now expect something major to happen next chapter :D Also, I apologize for the messy-ness of rEnO's speech as apparently I wanted to demonstrate how the beast perceives his 'gibberish' ORZ  
**

**On to the review replies (*puts aside hot chocolate and rubs hands*)**

Roara chan: Yes, I did! And I updated again! XD I am so slow, sorry, but I hope to be faster now. I'm glad you liked the story, it was inside my head for a long time and it felt good to finally put it out^^ Hm, I wonder too, but we might get a glimpse on what is happening outside ;) Thank you for your comment!

Rina: You are absolutely right, my reviewers are amazingly smart! I actually made that story about the Lotus Eater up. There is a band called 'Opeth' that I like very much and on their new album was a title called 'Lotuseater'. I never listened to the song and I never read the lyrics, because as soon as I heard that title I had that story in my head and I didn't want to spoil it. It inflicted just such strong imagery in my mind... I think the reason why Reno hasn't gotten sick yet is because of the mako. It makes him a lot stronger and had he not been able to tolerate that he would have died by now. If Reno died... well, I won't say anything about that, we might learn ;P I am not so sure if the scene was particularly sexy. It was a sexually tinted scene, but probably not particularly erotic...? I hope you liked it anyways XD

DamonWesker: Sweet! Yes, sorry for the slow updates, my life is a bit in disorder but I hope to update more regularly now^^ Yes, I think Reno's subconscious is screaming with overload and sends him cryptic messages that he doesn't get XD Hahaha, me neither, gorgeous cuddly beast can sleep in my lap anytime – as long as it keeps its claws hidden ;)

Sephcounttheway: Yay! I'm happy that you're into it! I will definitely finish this story and update, even though it might take a while *coughcough* Life's a bitch sometimes -_-

IA1979: Awesome! I am very happy you like the story about the Lotus Eater, as I was thinking about making it into an original work (with more details and a bit of a different storyline, of course).

**NEXT CHAPTER: Stuff will happen.**


	21. 21: This is not a love song

**Ola! I bring new chapter, finally^^ Kudos to my lovely fiance Nat-Nat (;P) for betaing this chapter!**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 21: This is not a love song  
**

It took Reno ages to charm fridgeboy out of his fridge. He tried talking, ordering, pleading with the dirty creature, luring him with rats, bugs and a strange 'toy' he had spontaneously created out of bones and other stuff that he had found nearby (it distantly resembled a doll). The latter had piqued the boy's interest long enough to open the fridge door a few inches, examine the toy with a brief look and greedily grab it in the blink of an eye.

Then he had wordlessly shut the door in Reno's face and no pleading or threatening could prompt him to leave his damn, rusty fridge-home.

After a while, Reno gave up. He didn't know what had crawled up the boy's butt and died (he didn't want to know) but there was nothing he could do about it for now. Thus he paid a visit to the bathroom, had a rat and lay down on the floor to ponder their awkward sexual encounter.

Reno didn't have much sexual experience with other boys, save for that one time during his teenage years when he had jacked off with his then best friend. They hadn't touched each other, just had done it together, and that was that. Otherwise Reno had never felt a particular attraction to other males. Some of them he found pretty, when they were all glamoured up and retouched in magazines, but in this case, they usually looked rather androgynous. And it wasn't as if he had sexual fantasies about them. Why, he didn't know and he had never thought it over. But thinking about it now, he couldn't even remember what kind of girl he had gone for, in his other life. Had he liked large breasts? Narrow waists? He couldn't tell anymore. It seemed too far away, too deeply buried in his past.

What Reno did remember, though, was that he had been picky and that he had never slept with a girl more than once. He loathed that kind of commitment, he wasn't made for monogamy. He'd been constantly on the prowl, a brilliant strategist when it came to luring women into bed. He'd prided himself in the number of girls he'd fucked, and the ways he had entrapped them in his sticky net. How much effort he had put into planning tactics to hunt them, catch them, use them and cast them away. Analyzing them, finding the right words, getting the hints and responding accordingly. It was all a long, delicate chain of actions and reactions and if you just made the slightest mistake, you were off the game.

In retrospect, that seemed incredibly stupid and a huge waste of time. Not that Reno didn't like sex but the whole charming and playing games appeared so foolish and redundant now. Why hadn't they just fucked? Reno knew he had wanted nothing else and the girls hadn't either. All that elaborate and fancy playing hard to get, concealing their true urges and putting up a front... But he had to pretend and play along, because if you didn't meet your partner's expectations they would just go somewhere else.

Now the situation had taken a whole new turn. Reno didn't have a choice, no menu to choose from. There was only fridgeboy.

And Reno couldn't say that his companion was particularly... attractive. At least not in the common sense of the word.

True, with a make-over, hair combed and detangled, a good scrubbing and decent clothes, the boy would have been killer. Reno couldn't even begin to imagine it, lest his mind crack. But fridge boy was also incredibly creepy and unpredictable, dirty, violent, untamed and most people would probably rather get a heart attack than a boner at his sight.

Reno shook his head and, absently poking at the dirt with a stick he had found, continued his musings.

So fridge boy was kind of sexy and beautiful, in his own disturbing and twisted way. He was also a creature of base needs and urges, who didn't know shit about conventions and proper sexual orientations. Reno didn't even know if fridge boy found him attractive. To the little rascal that probably didn't matter...

Well, down here, there were no women. And even if there had been, it wouldn't have mattered much. Gender became obsolete here, annoying even. Scripted roles complicated things down here, where anarchy ruled, and if you couldn't adapt, couldn't detach yourself from your old life, couldn't be flexible – you died.

Reno nodded to himself as he finished his crude dirt picture. It didn't matter whether fridgeboy was male, female, a hermaphrodite or a toast. What mattered was that Reno cared about him and craved the physical contact, and, surprisingly, the emotional satisfaction this contact provided. Due to the circumstances, Reno's libido had died at first but as he had gotten slowly used to his new life and established familiar routines, his basic needs gradually resurfaced too. Granted, they would have to figure this out through trial and error, but they were two (more or less) healthy human beings with an apparent sex drive and no moral qualms, so why shouldn't they have sex?

They would be mates now, Reno decided.

The only immediate obstacle they had to overcome was getting fridgeboy out of his fridge. But sooner or later he would have to go pee or something.

Reno flopped down on his side, propped up his head on one hand, and lazily watched two rats trying to copulate (which appeared to be difficult, since one of them had a head on both ends of its body).

At some point later, the boy finally deigned to crawl out of his sanctuary, scratching the back of his head with his foot as if he hadn't had a mental breakdown just hours ago.

"Welcome back, honey."

The boy graced Reno with an empty look, muttering "OneYyy" in that raspy, deep voice of his.

With a long sigh and a mental shrug, Reno watched him go about business as usual. As always he had no idea of what went on in the empty head of his roommate; but he had given up trying to figure it out. It was for the best; had he even had an _inkling_ of how fridgeboy was ticking, Reno would have declared himself officially and thoroughly insane. It wasn't the first time fridgeboy had thrown a fit and then had just proceeded as if nothing had happened at all. Whatever his issues were, he seemed to have dealt with them, so Reno was good with them, too.

Fridgeboy finished scratching himself and yawned, showing his white teeth and pink gums to the empty, dilapidated room. Then he stretched like a cat, walked to the skeleton bed on all four and sat at the edge to examine closely the 'doll' Reno had made for him.

"rEnO," he purred, and the man in question got up with a grunt, walked over the dead bed and leaned against the rusty frame, grabbing the doll and showing his mate how to play with it.

* * *

"Damn, it's dark in here!" Elena suppressed the urge to rub her shin through her biohazard suit. Breathing was hard in that thing and her vision was obscured by the murky shadows that lingered in the former research center.

But even under her helmet she caught the dark look Tseng shot her and she shut up with an elaborate sigh. She focused her flashlight on the path in front of her instead, letting the stream of light sway over abandoned medical equipment.

"You found something yet?" Elena asked after a too long time of stubborn silence. The other two kept their mouths tightly shut as if their lives depended on it. Rude didn't even look at her but just kept walking. Elena bit her lips but followed with determined strides. She was a bother to them, she knew that. Hadn't it been for her, Tseng and Rude wouldn't even be here in this stinking hole. Their presence was their way of saying that they did care for her.

Probably.

One could never be too sure when it came to stoic Tseng and unreadable Rude.

They entered one of the empty rooms, routinely and quickly checking it for any indication that someone had come here recently. Letting the light of her torch wander over the dirty walls and dusty floors with unwavering patience, the blond Turk examined every inch of the lab.

"I think I saw something," she piped, cutting through the silence, even though that was a lie. But this stillness was suffocating. And she was clinging desperately to every ray of hope. Even if it was fake.

After a long pause Tseng finally turned towards her, the light of his torch resting by her feet. "There is nothing there," he answered calmly. And with finality.

"No, I saw it! There, see? The dust's smeared, someone has been here!" The sudden panic rising in her chest made Elena choke on her words. She waved her flashlight frantically towards a fresh print on the ground .

"That was my boot," Rude pointed out. Elena hated the patronizing tone that had crept into his voice like a vicious poison that makes you numb and kills you later.

"I _saw_ something." Her lifted chin had the two men exchange a brief but significant look, adding even more to the heavy, unnerving tension in the room . They were at their limits, their patience worn off by endless hours of stumbling through this creepy, endless maze of nothingness.

"Elena..." Apparently the two male Turks had wordlessly agreed on putting an end to this. "There's nothing here."

"How do you know?" She instantly flared, her small frame shaking against the stiff plastic of her suit. How she had feared that moment! But it couldn't be over yet, not now, they weren't done!

"How long have we been searching now ?" The unusually gentle tone Tseng spoke in frightened and irritated her even further. Elena abruptly lifted her flashlight and shone it right on the man's face, who in turn narrowed his eyes and lifted his arm to shield them. But at least, he spoke normally when he resumed, "This is not leading to anything. It is time to face the truth, however painful it may be. We cannot waste any more time and resources here."

"Waste any more _resources_?" Elena wanted to jump at him and tear his pale, perfect throat open. She knew that Tseng hadn't meant it like that - it was just his Tseng-way of pragmatically breaking the news to her that it was virtually impossible for them to sneak in here unauthorized every night in stolen suits without anybody noticing. Right now they were risking their jobs, their health and possibly their lives to search for someone whom they would, in all likelihood, never find. They had discovered more and more secret levels they weren't supposed to know of and they had no idea how much farther down this massive underground complex stretched, how many more endless tunnels would lead them deeper into the belly of the planet.

Even suppose they _did_ find what they were looking for it would be nothing more than a pile of gnawed off bones.

"You know what I mean."

"No, no I don't!" Elena hissed. The light was finally withdrawn from Tseng's face as Rude stepped in and pulled her small arm down. At first she tried to resist, glaring at the big man to let her go, but he didn't budge and finally she surrendered.

"Look... let's just go for one more night. Just one more night. What's one more?" Her own helplessness and despair made her sick to her stomach, but she had to try, right? They couldn't just give up like that! "He's our friend, he'd do the same for us!"

There was another uneasy exchange of gazes but Elena didn't see what she was hoping for. They were exhausted, she could tell. They were tired of her dragging them down here, they were tired of getting lost, they were tired of looking for something that would not be found. They were tired of trying to be hopeful for her sake, telling her lies so she wouldn't snap.

"What is one more night going to change?" Tseng spoke. "Elena, it is time we face the truth. Reno is... was our friend. We all miss him. But the least thing he would want is for us to be here. He would want us to move on."

"Don't you talk as if he's -" Elena snapped, her chest heaving with agitation, but she stopped short, afraid to complete the sentence. Rude finished it for her, speaking the words she dreaded the most.

"Elena. He's dead. Reno is dead."

The wave of anger and frustration that crashed over her was indescribable. Thousand words of contempt flooded her mind and she was not able to screech a single one of them. She abruptly turned instead and ran out of the room, raising a cloud of dust that swirled up in the stale air and lazily settled back onto everything that couldn't escape quickly enough.

From the corner of her eye she saw Rude attempting to follow her and Tseng holding him back.

Then she was out in the corridor and for a while nothing but her own pounding heartbeat and her feet hitting the ground occupied her wounded mind.

Elena didn't know how long she ran through the dark hallways. She barely avoided the rusty beds and broken equipment that littered the corridors. Her flashlight became weaker and weaker as well, but she didn't even notice. It wasn't like she cared. She just kept on moving, trying to outrun all the fury and sadness that filled her and wouldn't let go.

Eventually she collapsed against a moldy wall, exhausted. Holding her side, she tried to breathe in the scarce air that felt like liquid fire in her lungs.

"Dammit, why did he have to say it?" Her legs felt too weak to support her anylonger and the blond Turk just slumped on her knees, hair hanging into her eyes. But her vision was already obscured by her tears and her hot breath condensing on the inside of her helmet anyway, so what did it matter. If she hated one thing it was crying, but even biting her lips to the point of bleeding couldn't prevent the inevitable.

Grabbing some dirt Elena hissed and then screamed in one long, angry wail. All the anger, all the denial, the failed attempts at coping, the immense and overwhelming loss of someone she had thought would be by her side forever - all that she screamed into the darkness where it floated away, leaving her a hollow, deflated sack of helpless resignation.

How many chances she had missed that would never come back. How many things she would never get to say. How many stupid things she _had_ said and could never take back.

Reno had been like her brother; the emotional bond they shared was tightly wrapped around their hearts, pulling them close together. There were times when she hated him, for whatever stupid, insensitive thing he had said or done. There were times when she had worried about him. There were times when she had laughed at and with him so damn much her sides hurt and she thought she had ruptured something. There were times when she had protected him and he had protected her. There were times when she had just placed herself under his care, knowing that it was all right, that she could trust him. There were so many tiny, shared moments that had made them who they were, that had shaped them and their friendship, their way to see the world and to handle the future.

All of that was gone now, cut off forever from her life, left behind somewhere in the past and she didn't have the chance to foresee it, much less prevent it. In the blink of an eye, a part of her soul, a part of her self had been ripped from her, leaving a gaping hole that she did not know how to fill.

Now she had no more tears left now , no more anger nor the will to go on. Rude was right. What they were doing was stupid and dangerous and, had Reno known, he would have given her an earful. It was a miracle that both Rude and Tseng had stuck it out for so long. But they were worried about her, too. They did care, after all. And they were still here, and they were all she had left.

As that realization grew in her mind, slowly starting to fill the emptiness, Elena regretted her harsh words. Though they had been spoken out of desperation, they had not been fair. She sat up with a sight and just stared blankly at the tip of her boot for a while . Her head hurt from all the crying and it was hard to grasp a coherent thought. Well. There was no other option but to go back, apologize and put an end to it. She had a responsibility to keep her remaining friends safe too, and she couldn't risk their safety for her whims and childish denial any longer. Reno was dead and she would have to be strong and accept it. Not only for her sake, but for Tseng and Rude's too.

Just as she was getting up with a grunt, a sound stiffened her body in mid crouch.

"Hello?" She aimed her dying flashlight at the pitch black tunnel from where the sound had come, but the beam was too weak to pierce through the darkness.

"Tseng?" Keeping one hand on the slippery wall for support, Elena rose slowly. "Rude, is that you?" There was nothing there, her narrowed eyes couldn't penetrate the murky darkness.

In the pit of her stomach she felt that something wasn't right. Her instincts were on alert. A nameless fear gripped her and crept up her spine with sharp claws.

Something was watching her.

Elena took a step back and pointed the light deeper into the tunnel. The beam flickered a few times and went out. In a panic, she hit the flashlight against her hand, breathing through gritted teeth, "Come on!" All the while, her wide eyes kept searching frantically the darkness for whatever was closing in on her.

Where was it? On her left ? To the right? Now she couldn't hear a sound.

"Goddammit, work!"

As the torch suddenly flared back to life, Elena heard the noise again, threw her head back and looked up at the thick pipes running along the ceiling.

The last thing she saw was a frighteningly pale face and then everything turned black.

tbc?

* * *

**This chapter was difficult for me but also very important. In April I lost my best rl friend, so writing Elena's part became a bit of a trial. But I hope I succeeded in expressing the feelings of loss that I felt then (and still feel now), only in another context.**

**Now I again need your help, dear readers! How should the story go on? Any suggestions, wishes? :)  
**

**Review replies:**

Kage: l XD

natzilla: Hahaha, I'm glad he is! I think he's sometimes adorably ruthless and naïve XD

Rina: It does! The concept of reality is really interesting, and strange too, sometimes. I'm glad that he was relieved to not have eaten Reno, too, otherwise it might have given him strange ideas ;) I suppose humans as social subjects have a craving for comfort, and the fridge is closest to a mother. Rats and bugs can't be, or he would eat his own family... I'm happy you liked the sexy scene, though I'm not sure it was all that sexy XD Of course it wouldn't be about feelings of love and doing it prettily. As you said, fridgeboy is a creature of instincts^^

DamonWesker: Yes, you remembered right, beast boy was jacking off before. But he didn't have a sexual connection with someone else before ;) So for him this was quite different^^

bloodrippedcupcake: OMG, you reviewed every chapter! You're awesome, thanks so much for doing that! I loved hearing your thoughts and I'm happy you like the story! Now I'm curious: who do you think the beast boy is? XD I think I would have eaten the rat first, too. There's something really not so yummy about insects... shudder. Hehe, if the title of the story was Beauty and the Beast – who you think should be the beauty and who is the beast? XDD


	22. 22: The Racing Heart

**Hello everyone, I'm alive and kicking! Sorry for the lateness of this chapter, my life has been very busy. I found a job and had to get into it, which took a while. I hope you forgive me and that you'll enjoy the new chapter^^ Many many thanks to my ever patient and lovely Nat-Nat for the wonderful betaing and to the awesomely talented FunkySockzLover whose new fanart was a fantastic inspiration for this chapter :D **

**You can look at her lovely picture here: funkysockzloverDOTdeviantart DOTcom/gallery/?offset=0#/d582gmj**

**And now, please enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 22: The racing heart**

Elena had gone through a lot of weird, uncomfortable and outright dangerous situations in her life as a Turk. She'd been taken hostage, she had shot people and more recently, she had been searching for her best friend in some creepy underground maze that wasn't supposed to exist...

But she knew with absolute certainty that she had never been through a situation as bizarre and unsettling as this one.

She'd woken, groggy and disorientated, in a dark, murky and unfamiliar place that felt more like a ruin than an actual room. The shadows were deep and her sense of direction was blurry, so it was hard to tell, but the alienness of the place struck her with terror.

Still, the worst part of waking up was that... _thing_.

At first glance it seemed like a human boy. On the outside. He was dirty and the way he was crouching above her, motionless, his limbs twisted in strange angles, looked very very awkward, to put it mildly. Still, his body was unmistakably human as was his eerily pretty face.

But the lack of expression and the way he seemed to melt into the surroundings was just so _unnatural_. He hovered mere inches above her, his waxy face too close to hers.

His eery presence practically suffocated Elena.

She didn't dare move. But she couldn't look away from him, and he kept her transfixed with his unreadable stare too.

Something around his mouth glistened. Was that.. _blood_?!

What disturbed her most was probably the fact that she had no idea how to read him or how to respond. She felt trapped and threatened but she didn't know by what exactly. The whole scenario was just so out of place, unpredictable and it robbed her of every opportunity to control it, which sucked, big time. After years and years of training she was used to identifying a threat and eliminating it on the spot. That simply came with the job. That's how she'd survived all these years.

But there was no soul in the boy's eyes, nothing she could talk to or even negotiate with... None she could see, at least.

Her subconscious assessed all this in a matter of seconds and her body reacted accordingly, turning rigid. Her heart raced fiercely, her breathe came out in flat, brief gusts of air that stirred the dust on her lips.

And then, to make things _worse_, the boy-thing started making _noises_.

Elena could only have described it as guttural, animal like screams and growls that partly reminded her of purrs and some twisted babbling. She couldn't make out any language or words. It was just a terrible, indistinct cacophony, like nothing she had ever heard before. And nothing she ever wanted to witness again.

Whatever that creature was it wasn't human. It couldn't be.

As suddenly as he had started the boy stopped, probably losing interest, as his gaze fell away from her face and down to her suit.

Then he moved in a too fast, jerky motion that looked even more nightmarish – and then he poked her.

In the chest.

The blond Turk couldn't do anything but watch with wide eyes the boy feeling her up with his pointy finger, over and over again, like some kind of imbecile monster rapist.

What.

The.

Hell?!

At least that got her out of her state of shock and she reacted in the only reasonable way she could think of.

She slapped the boy straight in the face.

His head flew to the side and just stayed there, motionless. Elena felt the force of the blow still reverberating through her palm and it filled her with some satisfaction. If there was one thing she couldn't tolerate it was sexual harassment; she'd experienced it one time too many. And there was no way that she would allow anyone to poke her precious secondary sex characteristics without invitation – let alone some creepy kid creature!

Elena gave the teen a petulant and challenging look, daring him to touch her again but he didn't move. In fact, his head still hung askew, his face partially hidden by long strands of dirty hair that his calm breathing ruffled slightly. Then, slowly, one piercing green eye rolled towards her, fixing her with an indecipherable stare. His silence was tremendously unnerving, as was the awkward way he moved – it was just so alien and _wrong_. And it wiped away the brief moment of satisfaction completely. She didn't feel awkward anymore but had gone back to being terrified.

Elena wondered if the horror she was now going through compared to how scientists felt when they had just discovered a whole new species, something entirely unknown and unique. How would the creature react? Was it dangerous? Would it eat her face the next minute?

She furrowed her brows and opened her mouth to say something, to establish some kind of connection. Right now she didn't feel anything. The longer she looked into that soulless green eye the more agitated she became. There was nothing she could grab onto... no warmth, no understanding, no recognition. Even her cat had more discernable personality than this creep.

Before she got the chance to say anything her attempt was cut short by a piercing, screeching sound. Her gaze turned back to the boy and she wished instantly that she had thought twice before slapping him. Her captor still towered over her in the same twisted crouch, face turned aside, that unblinking eye staring her down blankly. But now Elena noticed that there was something in his hand and he was dragging it over the broken concrete floor in a slow, menacing motion.

It was a rusty, heavy-looking pipe. And there was dried blood on it.

What's more, Elena had been so busy dealing with this abomination that she hadn't given her surroundings much attention. Also the room had been too dark to see anything. But now her eyes had gotten used to the little light and as she looked at the pipe, she caught something else out of the corner of her eye. Something white. To be exact: a bunch of human bones and skulls scattered amongst the remains of raddled uniforms – which happened to match exactly the uniforms of the missing construction workers Reno and his team had been trying to find.

And there was something else.

The remains of a black suit. Exactly like the one she was wearing.

At that point Elena decided that she was done being polite. It didn't matter who this creature was, how it had gotten here or what it was doing. The boy posed a clear threat and there was no trying to talk to him. She had a very good idea of what had happened to these men and she didn't even have to check the bones for teeth marks. As for why Reno's suit was here she didn't want to think about. She really didn't.

The blond took a deep breath and a great calm filled her, momentarily taking over her hysterical breakdown. Then she flexed her muscles and attacked in a split second, attempting to push the boy off his feet as she rammed the heel of her hand against his nose.

A gush of blood spurted from her captor's face and he let go of the pipe that clattered noisily to the ground. A few deformed rats and giant bugs hurried back into the shadows of the room. Howling in pain, the boy lost his balance and rolled back and forth on the floor, holding his shattered nose, as crimson blood flew through his fingers. Elena jumped to her feet, grabbed the pipe and smashed it on his head over and over again. The creature screamed horribly and pitifully, rolled into a ball as he tried to protect his head with his arms but Elena didn't give him a chance.

Again and again the pipe went down, first breaking the cannibal's arms, then denting up his skull. He made a weak attempt to kick her but she stepped aside instinctively and bashed his head again until he was merely twitching.

And then finally he stopped moving.

This perfect scenario flashed in the head of the blond woman as she tightened her muscles and with great precision, sprang forward to make true of her intentions.

She hadn't even made it half way when her body was thrown back against the wall, knocking the air out of her. In a motion too fast for her to see, the bastard grabbed her head. His spidery fingers clung to her face like a vice and didn't budge an inch when she breathlessly tried to scratch and tear them away. The panic suffocated her like a rope tightening around her neck.

How could that thin, starved creature be so damn and inhumanly strong?! Why was he still sitting above her, stiff like a marble statue, his steely eye staring at her as if she was one of those bloated rodents? She wanted to gouge it out, that damn eye, she wanted to squish it under her bare foot to see if it was made of flesh, if it was real. But she couldn't move, only claw and hiss and wriggle and curse her goddamn luck.

And when she thought things couldn't really get _any _worse now, the cannibal boy lifted the pipe above his head and uttered his first intelligible word in a frighteningly deep and clear voice.

"hUngrY."

* * *

New, didn't belong. Intruder.

The beast crept silently along the rusty pipes, never leaving his eyes from the big creature moving loudly and aimlessly through his realm. Even though it was so big and noisy, the beast almost hadn't sensed it at first, so caught up in the new gAmE had he been. RenO would be mAkIng FacEs and it was the beast's task to name them. It was a difficult gAmE and not one of the beast's favorites (personally the beast preferred doing the gAmE where they'd rub against each other, because that felt really gOOd, but rEnO had been very insistent on the FAcE gAmE this time...).

For the FacE gAmE, he had to focus really hard not to get distracted by more interesting things like bUgSS and rAtss. RenO would sit down in front of him and change his mOUth and EyEs and the beast was to find out whether rEnO was sAd, AngrY, slEEpy or hAPPy.

It was hard, very very hard.

And it was even harder to _make_ the face. The beast had never been in need to make any faces so he didn't understand why he should now. He had other ways of expressing himself: When he was slEEpy, he'd just sleep, when he wanted something he simply acted on it or articulated it with the new noises rEnO had taught him... It was a stupid gAmE and didn't make the beast hAppY.

So when the beast had heard that distant noise deep down in the maze he had simply left rEnO to play the game by himself.

Exploring was much more fUn...

Right now the beast was not sure if this was fUn, after all. Another big one had appeared, a big one that was neither rEnO nor the beast. It smelled different, moved different, sounded different, looked different. Yet it was somehow the same.

Similar.

Also, the big one had had a screaming fit, pretty much like rEnO had on their first encounter. Had the beast not been clinging to the ceiling, he would have covered his assaulted ears.

Not hAPPy.

The beast decided to drag the big one back to their lair, maybe show it to rEnO and get a reward for being such a gOOd bOY.

The big one was easily subdued and brought to the pantry. Since the beast did not yet know what to do with it (if it even was of the same kind as the beast and rEnO, that had yet to be determined) he didn't want it in their living room.

When it finally woke up, the beast inspected it more closely and found something curious. This one was a lot softer to the touch than rEnO, very much like the mushiness of rAts. It was also identical to their food in yet another aspect. rAts sometimes felt unpleasant when the beast caught them and wasn't watchful of their mOUths. This one didn't bite – but it hurt in other ways.

And that made the beast very very AngrY.

So he decided that the violent thing qualified not as a companion – but as a rAt.

And rAts were food.

RenO would be so pleased that the beast had found such a big one. And maybe, after they'd eaten this very big rAt, they could play that other game...

Tbc?

* * *

**Time for review replies, yay^^**

InbetweenersDanceYo: Here you go :D We'll see what happened to Elena next chapter^^

Reiyla: Hello! I'm happy you liked the story so far When I started the story one of my motivations was to not pretty it up, but to try and make it realistic. Sometimes that's a big challenge, but it is also a lot of fun and I'm glad you enjoy that! Next chapter we'll see more of Rude and Tseng as well!

Ilovwinning: Here you go, I hope you like it!

Rianna-Seraephina: Guten Tag! I'm happy you like it so far I had fun reading your suggestions, I can imagine all 3 options! We'll see what happens next chapter! Thank you for your comment^^

IA1979: Thank you, I'm a lot better now. Next chapter there'll be more of Rude and Tseng, I promise^^ Your idea was very entertaining, I wonder how Reno would react to that? Would he be too jaded to care or would he want to leave? Maybe we'll see in the next chapter :D

Guest: Thank you, I'm happy you enjoyed it! If I was in a situation like Reno I'd want someone to look for me and I always imagined the Turks to be a pretty tight bunch… Haha, the two of them living in the jungle would be interesting! But there'd be more dangerous animals, life would probably be a lot harder! With changes in the climate etc. they'd have to fight a lot more for survival. Like in some Robinson Crueso tale?

Divanora: Haha, you're right, you got to work with what you got XD I think we'll find out how long Reno has been down there in the next chapter. I wonder too, how fridge boy and Reno would adapt to the world above. That'll probably be a big challenge… Thank you for your comment, I'm happy you like it!

Fantasi88: We'll see what happened to Elena and how Reno reacts to that next chapter, I promise. I can't say too much without spoiling it ;) But you're right, whatever happens, fridge boy will probably never be a 'real' human and fully adapt to society…

Mafe1920: No worries about not reviewing the other chapters, I'm happy you like the story and shared your thoughts with me on the last chapter^^ I wonder if Reno and fridge boy can live happily ever after now, we'll see soon ;)

DamonWesker: Sorry for the long wait, I hope you like the new chapter! Some of your questions will be answered next chapter, don't want to spoil it for you ;) I'm sorry for your friend too, but you're right, it gets easier.

Bloodrippedcupcake: Yah, I'm sorry for the long wait, so much happened in my life Fridgebabies would be super awesome, hahahahha! And even if it takes some time I will finish this story, no worries ;) Thanks for your comment!

Shinosuke: It will be finished, just might take a little while ;)

**I hope you enjoyed the last chapter, thank you for all your suggestions! You people rock, so much 3**


	23. 23: Day One

***hides in fridge* Uhm... hello... I'm still alive... and so is this story! Not eaten by bugs or rats or fridge boy (though he tried -_-). I'm sorry it took me so long to write this, but I have a full-time job now which is very demanding.**

**Anyway, enjoy the new chapter, that the darling natzilla betaed with her beta-super powers!**

* * *

Belly of the Beast

Chapter: 23 Day One

Elena was convinced she was about to die. Bludgeoned to death by a naked monster in human skin was not how she had envisioned leaving this world, but what was she to do. At least she'd be dead before he started eating her. That was a small consolation.

Holding her breath, she stared at the abomination with wide eyes, waiting for the pipe to knock her off. For a moment her senses sharpened like a camera in perfect focus. The outlines of her surroundings appeared in a stark contrast to the murky background. She could make out the tense muscles of the beast's arm that held the pipe, she could see every dirty matted hair, hear the dry sounds of insects crawling behind the walls. The dusty air chilled her sensitive skin and the stench of dead things and her own urine burned the little hairs in her nose.

The boy's pupils were two pitch black empty holes surrounded by brilliant green fire that consumed her and burnt her soul to crisps.

Suddenly they constricted to two paper thin slits and the world snapped back to a dull and faint static in the background.

The human beast tilted his head as if listening to something. Then his arm relaxed and before Elena could blink he was gone. The clattering of the pipe as he'd abandoned his position and crawled out of the room with terrifying speed still rung in her ears.

Slowly, she let out a shaky breath. Then she got up on trembling legs, seeking support from the moldy walls. Grabbing Reno's torn suit with numb fingers she limped out of the room.

It still smelled of him.

Elena wondered how his last hours had been. Had he been lucky enough to enjoy a quick, painless death? Had he been suffering while that bastard tore him apart? Had he been lonely, frightened?

Not knowing drove her almost crazy and also very very angry.

It wasn't fair, he hadn't deserved this, dying in a place like this, all alone, probably in pain. And for what?

Pressing her lips in a furious line, eyes hardening, Elena made a decision. She would avenge him. She'd kill that creep even if it was the last thing she did. Maybe he had had the advantage of surprise on his side the first time.

But not this time.

Clutching Reno's suit close to her body before putting it in the bag she had brought, Elena took a careful look around the corner but the hallway was clear.

Her eyes had a hard time adjusting to the darkness and they saw threatening shadows everywhere. She quickly grabbed a rusty metal rod from the ground, weighting it in her hand. Heavy and with a sharp pointy end. Perfect.

The hunt was on.

* * *

"What's up, yo?" Reno chewed on his bug with a frown while his hands weaved skillfully through the thick mane. Fridge boy seemed a bit on edge and his half lidded eyes kept darting to the hole in the wall of their pool room . "You not happy or what? It's your own fault, yo. If you hadn't wandered off by yourself we'd be done already. I know you hate bathing, but believe me, I'm not keen on picking all those damn insects out of your hair either. And how do you manage to get all these knots ? I detangled that just yesterday."

With a snort, Reno grabbed a small spider and pulled it out of fridge boy's otherwise surprisingly silky hair. Reno's own hair was presently lying on the wet tiles in tufts. He cut it off with a sharp shard of glass when it became too bothersome. He'd have done the same with fridge boy's but his special friend was very adamant on keeping his long hair. At least he had voiced his disagreement with words this time instead of using his pipe. Reno was surprised that he'd brought the pipe to the pool at all. They communicated mostly through language these days, which was a big relief. Teaching fridge boy the meaning of "No", "Yes" and "Stop" had proven to be most benefiting.

"rAt," was the almost petulant reply, followed by a hiss and a muttered, almost inaudible "bAth unhAppY."

"I heard that, yo." Smirking, Reno combed through a clean strand. It was a chore to get fridge boy to the pool after he had learned that he could get his cuddles without attempting to drown himself first. When Reno announced now that it was bathing time it was not met with appreciation and usually involved lots of bribes and excessive cuddling (and their other game) afterward. It was a tremendous improvement from before though, when fridge boy had outright refused him with a decisive "nO" and a quick retreat into his fridge.

"Only good boys get rats, you know the drill. Now stop being such a bitch about it, we're almost done, yo. Ah, what the fuck, stop moving, we're not done ye-"

Annoyed, Reno tightened his grip on the boy's hair to hold him in place and looked up to see what had made him suddenly leap on all four. The sight of the apparition at the door , though, froze him stiffer than a statue and he choke on his words.

Elena was at least as shell-shocked as her former comrade.

But who could blame her, considering the picture of utter absurdity that presented itself before her?

First, there was Reno.

_Alive._

Or at least she thought it was Reno. From the sight of him... she wasn't actually sure.

He was crouched down by a large pool full of algae. Naked. His skin was hidden under a thick crust of dirt and dust, as was his hair. She could barely make out the color. The eyes staring back at her glowed in a radiant blue. A slimy, half eaten bug hung from the corner of his chapped lips. Lips that, just seconds ago, had been babbling incomprehensible noises in a raspy voice that sounded nothing like Reno, at all.

His hands were buried in the hair of her attacker, who lay on the tiles in all his abnormal, beautiful glory, one of his arms slung around Reno's belly in a loose, comical hug. He seemed tense now, staring at her out of emotionless eyes, his free hand blindly but surely reaching for his pipe and curling around it.

They looked like two muddy monkeys who'd been disturbed during delousing.

The first to regain his composure (if he'd ever lost it) was fridge boy. Sitting up, he morosely let his pipe clash down on the tiles and eyed her in what Elena thought to be a very threatening way.

"rAt," he declared, and after a pause, "hUngrY."

That seemed to break the spell.

Reno closed his gaping mouth and asked in an uncertain, small voice "'Lena?"

The female turk had a hard time understanding the word but when she did it left no doubt that the pathetic, starved creature in front of her was indeed Reno.

That revelation triggered an onslaught of emotion: relief that she had found him and that it had been the right decision to not give up on him after all ; happiness that he was still alive and seemed to be unhurt ; hot shame that he had to see her like this, with her pants soiled ; pity at his thin body and finally misery for the general state he was in as she realized how he must have lived down here all this time to survive in the company of that twisted creature. Seeing him like this and knowing it was him made her almost wish he hadn't survived at all.

Rather than turning into an animal, death might have been a mercy.

"Yes, it's me, Elena! We've come to rescue you! Get away from him you monster!" Elena's voice sounded shrill and deafening even to her, but she didn't care. She waved hysterically at the boy to shoo him away from Reno. But why wasn't Reno moving? She had come to free him from that creature that clearly held him hostage down here! But he just sat there motionless, staring at her as if _she _was the abomination in this room.

The boy was more inclined to react, growing impatient from the drama that he didn't understand. Baring a row of sharp white teeth at the intruder/rAt, he tensed and jumping at the speed of light, he was suddenly behind her in mid-air, his weapon ready to crash down on her before she could even fully turn around.

That seemed to pull Reno out of his trance as he shouted coarsely "Stop!"

And much to Elena's disbelief, the boy stopped midway, gracefully falling on all four beside her with an impassive stare.

Reno had gotten up to a kind of a standing position with his back hunched as if he wasn't used to it, his gaze focused on her still. He wasn't even trying to hide his nakedness. Slowly, he reached out a hand, saying something that sounded to Elena like "Come here. No rat." and was obviously not meant for her.

The boy seized her with one last dull but somewhat disappointed look before crawling back to Reno's side. Much to Elena's chagrin, Reno petted his head as the boy pressed his despicable, dirty monster body against him. This time she was almost certain that he said "Good boy."

And the boy actually purred.

"Reno, what's going on...? What happened to you ?"

Her friend looked away from her at last and fixed his eyes on the floor, but his stare was less ashamed than resigned.

Frustrated.

With her.

Reno gulped a few times, his jaw tightening, but he neither spoke nor showed any sign of wanting to leave this hellhole.

Her head was swimming and she gripped her metal bar tighter. This was a nightmare, it had to be! It was just so... grotesque. Shouldn't Reno be happy that she had found him? That he could get out of here? Why was he behaving so strangely, so irrationally? It didn't make any goddamn sense!

"Look, it doesn't matter right now. You don't have to explain," she tried, her voice growing softer. Who was she to judge him. Elena had no idea what he had had to endure down here all this time. Reno was probably afraid of her condemning him. He would need extensive medical and psychological care once they were back and it wouldn't be easy, maybe he'd never recover fully. But they would try their best.

Her words at last seemed to reach him and Reno fixed his glowing, now uncertain eyes, back on her. He must be heavily mako poisoned...

"Tseng and Rude are here too. We've been looking for you for eleven months, even after the official search was closed. I knew you were still alive, I never gave up on you. And I found you." Her biohazard suit rustled as she took a step towards him, hand outstretched. "It's over," She smiled, a little shakily. "You're safe now."

"Safe..." He repeated as his body straightened to its former height.

"Yes!" It was a mixture of a laugh and a sob as Elena finally reached him and clasped him in her civilized arms to shield him from all the nightmarish things he had experienced down here and welcome him back into the realms of cultured humanity.

After a brief moment of hesitation he returned the hug.

* * *

They stood like that for what felt like hours but must only have been a few minutes. Fridge boy observed the scene with uncomprehending eyes, a forgotten outsider to their intricate, artificial relationship.

Elena finally sniffled and wiped her eyes, breaking the embrace. "W-we need to go. Tseng and Rude must be worried by now."

Reno's grip around her only tightened though. His stomach cramped.

He was so fucking hungry for something else than rats and bugs.

And Elena looked so goddamn meaty.

"Reno?" Uncertainty crept into the blond's voice as she tried to pry his arms loose, gently at first, then urgently the more his grip tightened.

"rEnO," the beast purred. He was hUngrY, too.

Reno took a deep breath of her warm hair. She smelled so good, so healthy. Her rapid pulse and firm flesh intoxicated him, drowned out every other thought. Unable to resist, his tongue darted out to lick her salty skin and the dried blood from the wound of her forehead where fridge boy had hit her the first time.

Elena tasted forbiddenly delicious.

With a shaky breath he bit into her neck.

"Reno! Let go!" She was clearly panicked now and the stench of her fear had Reno inhale sharply. All of a sudden he let go, and pushed her away so hard that she fell to the floor, breaking a few more tiles.

"rEnO!" the beast babbled, feeling a great sense of accomplishment. After all, he had joined the conversation. And he wanted a hug too, so he clung to the bony body of his rEnO.

"...Gesefa Ouaheyo."

"W-what...?" Confused, Elena tried to get up but failed. Reno had resumed his crouching position by the pool, conflicting emotions flickering over his dirty face. The most apparent was despair.

"I don't understand... I can't understand you..." Her broken voice drifted through the room.

Reno closed his eyes, gulping a few times. His face furrowed in concentration as he repeated slowly, as if every word cost him a great deal of effort,

"Get.. the fuck... outta... here..., yo."

"...hAppY," the beast piped up, observing and trying to judge rEnO's expression. If he guessed right then he'd be a good boy and they could stop bAthIng and playing that stupid gAmE and maybe find a rAt or go to slEEp. The beast was getting tired of this, especially since they hadn't and probably wouldn't eat the big rAt Reno claimed was no rAt. The new big one knew rEnO and hUg and they had connected so maybe the new big one didn't qualify as food. The beast didn't like that. He didn't know how to react to that, he wanted it to go away and leave rEnO alone.

RenO was his.

"Yeah, happy. Good boy. I'm happy. Now shut up, okay, the adults are talking and this is kinda not going very well." Reno gently stroked fridge boy's beautiful face even though he didn't feel happy at all. Elena was a faint echo from his past, a bundle of hygiene, manners and trained behaviour that he couldn't understand or remember and she upset his new life. She was an alien intruding on his world. But first and foremost... she was food. Reno couldn't help it and he barely remembered why he should, but the part of him that hadn't been consumed by anarchy yet was trying to kick her out of here alive.

Elena couldn't understand a word of what he was babbling to the cannibal boy and she was crept out of her wits and frustrated and frightened and most of all shocked. Had he just tried to eat her?! She pressed a hand to her neck where his teeth had left a mark and drawn blood and crawled backwards, further away from them.

Her words couldn't reach him.

Whoever that man had once been, he wasn't Reno anymore. This creature was... damaged.

Inhuman.

A beast.

"B- but I can't leave you here," she croaked finally, this time succeeding in getting up. She couldn't say that she was totally convinced by her own words. "We have to get out of here." It was her mantra.

"...Leave." He took a deep breath in a last effort. "Please."

His tired gaze traveled to her through the quiet room, conveying the impossibility of her request.

There was no way he could go up with her.

He belonged to the beast now.

"Reno..." Helpless, she stared at the two of them crouched together in the darkness. Reno's arm was protectively draped over the boy's skinny shoulders. The boy himself clung possessively to the man that had formerly been 'Reno'.

Elena turned then and fled out of the room and through the abandoned hallways back to her friends.

As they had told her: Reno was dead.

* * *

The beast and Reno sat by the pool for a long time. Reno had given up on bathing his fridge boy. After a meal that consisted of raw rat, bugs but no fresh human meat, it was time to go back.

The beast demanded a story and Reno told him a tale about a boy that had once lived in a strange kingdom on the outside where it wasn't always dark and all kinds of dead food were aplenty. Where people did strange things and behaved in really unnatural ways, where there were a lot of confusing and inane rules that no one remembered how they had come to be. Where people twisted their selves into a nauseating number of different personalities to connect to other people through roles and social norms. Where everyone wore masks all the time and forgot what they were because they were so terrified of themselves that they couldn't bear it.

The beast didn't understand that world and neither did Reno.

They lay on the floor in a pile of rubble until they grew tired and then they both climbed into the new fridge they had dragged into their lair, huddled together in peaceful closeness, drifting into a dreamless sleep.

End

* * *

**Review replies (still my favorite part^^):**

BoomChick: Ah, sorry for the long wait! Yeah, Elena got unlucky :P But at least she survived which wasn't what I had originally planned for her :D

muertz: Oh, thank you for pointing out the mistake! Yeah, that creatures funny pictures, I'll go back and edit it :D I'm glad you otherwise enjoyed the chapter!

Divanora: I think if the beast was to suddenly meet hundreds of people all hell would break loose O.o And yes, no blaming Elena, if anyone touched me without my permission I'd punch them right in their faces :D I think the beast is slowly learning empathy, that's why he has an emotional connection to Reno and starts to get possessive of him too^^

natzilla: Hm, maybe because Elena is frightened? But I agree, no harming beastie!

Rina76: Heya! And again it took me ages to spit out this chapter :((( Working really eats a lot of writing time and energy :( Hahaha, I couldn't kill beast boy like that! And even though Elena is strong I highly doubt that she'd be able to. And surprisingly: no one was killed!

bloodrippedcupcake: Hey, sorry for the long wait! I feel horrible, but here's the chapter at last! And without a cliffhanger!

Lil: Elena was saved! And no worries about 'better' reviews, I adore every review I get! I hope this ending was happy for you, kind of?

Ilovwinning: NO! She is all right (at least physically) :D

Soyna: Yay, I'm happy you like it! Yeah, poor Elena's boob is the true victim here!

Viriam: Hello~ Thank you very much, I'm happy you enjoyed it! I haven't given up the story at all, actually I think about a possible sequel... I'm just slow with updates because I started a regular job after college that is very demanding. I hope you liked my other stories as well! They are co-authored thus they are different from the stories I write on my own^^

lilith dracul: Yes, I did! Sorry for the long wait!

Guest: Here you go :)

**So here you have it, the last chapter! With this the story has come to a conclusion and I'd very much like to hear what you think one last time. I put a lot of thought and energy into this little story and it was frustrating sometimes, but also a lot of fun! I thank you so much for reading and for offering your shrewd and funny comments, they helped me develop this story so much!**

**(Btw. I'm toying with the idea of a sequel. Would you be interested in reading that? Anything in particular you want to see? Please let me know in a PM or review!)**


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